Hi, there! I’m Tipper Allen, and guess what? Momma says that critters are going to eat all her blueberries, so I decided to help. She went out and the screen door didn’t latch all the way, so I went out! I tucked myself under the blueberries and laid in wait for critters, even if they were dangerous!
Momma was scared for me and tried to get me to come in, but I wouldn’t.
Momma called me, but I was on a mission.
She went in, because she was afraid I’d run into the woods if she came after me (I would have, too). When I finished ispectin for critters, I let her call me in, but I was still on the look out.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR ANIMALS: Are you brave like I am?
TA
Dan Antion
May 22, 2021 at 7:54amTipper…it’s not nice to make you mom worry about you. I know your intentions were good (and I’m sure you don’t want to be misunderstood) – sorry, but it was the Animals.
Marian Allen
May 22, 2021 at 10:14am😀
acflory
May 23, 2021 at 2:21amI wonder if you could take Tipper out when you do gardening, Marian. You know, to be your guard-cat? I know Tipper’s main job is to guard inside the house, but a guard-cat is useful in the garden too. My boyz keep an eye on the alpacas for me, and make sure I’m not attacked by any marauding magpies while I check out the fruits trees and pumpkins. 🙂
Marian Allen
May 23, 2021 at 9:28amI don’t do gardening anymore. We used to have a garden up by the house, and I gardened then. Charlie moved the garden as far away from the house as he could without trespassing, and I gardened less. When the dog died and the critters starting eating everything, we gave up. Now I just grow herbs in planters. I tried growing potatoes in containers on the porch, but the raccoons dug up the seed potatoes every night, and my yield was not the best. I would have starved on Mars.
acflory
May 24, 2021 at 6:54amAaah. We don’t have raccoons, but between the possums, cockatoos and alpacas, we have to grow most things in pots too. I should take a photo of my fruit trees one day, so you can see how they’ve been eaten into an ‘umbrella’ shape by the alpacas. -sigh- I wouldn’t make it on Mars either.
Marian Allen
May 24, 2021 at 9:27amAnd you keep alpacas why, if I may ask? Or are they wild alpacas, who roam in marauding bands, terrorizing all low-lying fauna and scaring the cats?
acflory
May 24, 2021 at 9:36pmLMAO~ We only have 2 alpacas left [started with 4] and they’re very domesticated. The reason we [three neighbours] share them is because we’re all on big blocks and all that grass has to be mowed by someone. The alpacas do a good job except in spring when the new growth is just too much for them to demolish. 🙂
Marian Allen
May 25, 2021 at 11:48amYou’re supposed to have girl alpacas and boy alpacas and get MORE as time passes, not FEWER. Or are alpacas like pandas and me: particular about whose what goes where?
acflory
May 26, 2021 at 7:03amlmao!!!!! No, I don’t think they’re particularly um, picky. We actually started with two pregnant females and a neutered male. Sadly my neighbour’s Dad decided to do some spraying for weeds. The alpacas weren’t in her paddock at the time but we think they must have been affected later because the first cria couldn’t suckle and had to be put down. The second one survived but was alway stunted and died young. The original male, Macca, who was my favourite, developed a kidney condition and also died. So…we just have the girls left. :/
Marian Allen
May 26, 2021 at 8:54amOh, that’s so sad! Are you going to run a Personals ad? “Two MAF (Mature Alpaca Females) looking for VAM (Viril Alpaca Male) for three-way. Objective: Cria. No strings attached. Serious replies only, please.” There. You’re welcome.
acflory
May 26, 2021 at 7:55pmLMAO and ROFL!!!!!! Oh I am sooooo tempted. You are evil, Marian Allen. 😀 😀
Marian Allen
May 27, 2021 at 7:48amwhispers Do it! You know you want to. /whispers devil emoji
acflory
May 27, 2021 at 7:07pm!!!! Get the behind me…. 😀 😀
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt
May 23, 2021 at 2:16pmOnce I could no longer weed, or even enjoy time outside in New Jersey, that home was done. One of the many losses of growing older.
Here I hope to end up with a balcony garden right outside my window – probably mostly succulents and plants which are hardy – and maintained by someone else periodically.
It is so hard when you can’t do things FOR yourself.
Thank goodness I have writing!
Hope you inspected Tipper for ticks.
Marian Allen
May 24, 2021 at 9:17amI keep a flea and tick collar updated on each of the cats. They seldom get out, but that wouldn’t keep the bities from coming in. Your future garden balcony sounds lovely. Include Hens and Chicks. My Aunt Rose always had a pot of Hens and Chicks. 🙂 https://plantaddicts.com/hens-and-chicks-varieties/
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt
May 24, 2021 at 12:11pmI need to include things which can survive outside year-round in this part of California; plants from the arboretum sales should do that. And it has to be easy maintenance – I can’t lift stuff and carry it to the nearest sink (the kitchen – at the other end of the apartment).
Janis @ RetirementallyChallenged.com
May 23, 2021 at 6:41pmTipper is a beauty! I also love your little blue garden house and the lovely maroon-leaved tree.
Marian Allen
May 24, 2021 at 9:24amTipper IS a handsome boy. 🙂 The little blue house was a playhouse Charlie built for the older three girls; it moved to Indiana with us and was a playhouse for the littlest one. Then it was a hen house, and now it’s a storage shed. I haven’t opened it since Charlie passed, so it’s probably also a snake and/or raccoon motel. The maroon-leaved tree is a Japanese Maple. Charlie loved those. He harvested seedlings from the trees of a rich woman he did handyman work for in the summers between teaching, so we have them all over. 🙂