Conference misery::feline_v1

	Lynne - good luck with the mouse . . . err, mice.  Folk wisdom 
	says that you never have just one :^}

	Sandy etc.

    
    Why not take the kitten in the next note?
    

    Thanks for all the offers of barncats......
    
    However,  I have already filled the open positions! :-)
    
    L-

    gee, this reminded me of a situation I know about.
    
    A Scottish Fold breeder you might know has a mouse living in the
    basement of her house. Gotta be a mouse with no sense of smell, 'cause
    there are 8 adult cats and 4 kittens living upstairs. Anyways, this
    lover of all things animal refuses to let the felines (or husband) deal
    with the mouse.
    
    The mouse (I don't want to think there are mice, just one huge mouse)
    ate about 10 pounds of sunflower seeds that were supposed to be
    birdfood, and then so it wouldn't starve, the aforementioned breeder
    put a bowl of dry catfood in the cellar. The mouse ate that, too. To
    show it's gratitude, it's leaving presents all over the basement. For
    some reason, the anonymous noter I'm talking about hasn't collected
    these presents. :-)
    
    This mouse has it easy, as long as it stays downstairs. If it comes
    upstairs, it'll be eaten. I wonder if that feliner will try to protect
    it by putting a sign on the top stair as a warning.
    
    jack
    (who wishes you all happy holidays, and good luck in the future.)

      When I was a kid on the farm back in Minnesota, we always had a
    fairly large 'herd' of barn cats. 
      In the spring of the year there was the annual ritual of cleaning out
    the haylof in the barn, to prepare it for the summer's hay harvest.  I
    always had a "special" cat that was my pet, and when I had to go into
    the loft and clean out these big piles of 'chaff' and rotten pieces of
    hay, I'd take this one with me. These piles would be INFESTED with
    mice...like HUNDREDS of them...and as the piles would be reduced, the
    meeces would be running with each forkful that was removed. Sometimes
    we'd have as many a a dozen cats up there with us...but I remember this
    little grey cat of mine...he'd catch and eat mice until he couldn't eat
    anymore...then he'd start to make a "cache"...He still would catch and
    kill them, but he's stash them in a corner for later....
     
      What a panic it was watching about a dozen cats frantically trying to
    decide which of the multitudinous meeces to chase...
      They would reduce the population to a reasonable level, but the
    meeces were so numerous that they'd be back in a short time..
    
    JM

    Jack, don't you realize *your* the one who's supposed to receive
    these presents!  :^)
    
    	Michele

    .4  Gee Jack I wonder who that breeder could be.  Watch out or she'll
    use the CAT on you for telling all her secrets.
    
    I'm not sure when your last day is...but I want to wish you luck
    and let you know we are going to miss your little "zings" at
    your wife.   Best of luck to you and I'm sure Nancy will keep
    us posted on family life.  (She can get you back....without you
    even knowing it)
    
    Good luck
    
    Sandy

    
    
    	Did I miss something?  Jack is leaving?
    
    	JJ (who may be memory-dead)
    

    
    Jack is gone..............today was his last day and he already
    sent me mail saying he's gone for the day.  I'll miss his zings
    too, but don't tell him I said that ;-)  I'll get plenty at home
    anyway.
    
    Now.. about the, eh hem....mouse.  I just don't want my kitties
    getting nasty worms eating said mouse....or some similar excuse.  
    Seriously, tho, a mouse really would only be a real problem if it
    came upstairs and I KNOW it won't survive if it did that so I'm not
    really worried.  Besides...how much cat food can a mouse eat, anyway!
    ;-)
    

    Jack is gone as in buyout???? We have so few male feline
    noters and his reply were usually one of a kind. Please
    tell Jack we WILL see him at the next feliner get together.
    
    What plans are in his future if I may be so bold to ask?
    
    Barbara & her 3M's

uh, Nancy, I think you aren't thinking this through very well - the mouse isn't
alone, that's for sure....kiddo, mice live less than 2 years, but during
the life span of 2 years, they can provide more than 100 more mice --- all 
who know a SOFT TOUCH when they see one....

I know how you feel though...I can't help thinking they are SOO CUTE...I just
can't dislike them...I trap and set them loose far from the house in a field.

    
    	Ditto!
    
    	When we found out we had mice (Sasha so nicely brought one
    	into my kitchen from the cellar)  we bought a couple of
    	traps.  Cary first picked up the ones with the spring, I
    	looked at him and picked up the little Hav-a-hart ones.
    	I told him I didn't want the cute little buggers dead,
    	just out of my apartment.
    
    	

    Glad to know I'm not the only soft hearted (my hubby
    says soft headed) one who doesn't want to kill them,
    just wants them out of the barn!!! :-)  :-)
    
    Lynne 

    Jack didn't get the buyout.  I wish he had, but so far us IS people
    have been denied any voluntary severance package.  If you want to stay
    that's comforting, but if you want to leave its frustrating.  
    
    Jack got a call from his last boss who is now working for a company
    in Boston (GMO) that does program trading (you know, stocks).  He
    will be supporting a multi-vendor environment using one of the
    leading-edge networks (not Digital).  He can take the water taxi
    from Hingham (2 towns south of Braintree) which means we can retire
    my poor car from active service.  That should help us cut expenses.
    
    We tried to move closer to work via COD etc but nothing ever worked
    out.  Jack intends to come back to Digital sometime in the indefinite
    future when we're doing better.  The experience he'll get supporting a
    multi-vendor environment is just what Dec needs.
    
    I'll be sure to pass along all your well wishes and I'm sure he'll
    be at the next Feliner party if humanly possible.  I think he still
    considers himself a "Feliner".  I'll try to drag him to the next
    cat show.
      Nancy
    
    p.s. I may break down and let the cats down there some just to keep
    the population down.

    I am envisioning a mouse the size of a pumpkin, after
    10 lbs of sunflower seeds.
    

population control is DEFINITELY needed....the genus that the plain field mouse
comes from lives approx. a year....HOWEVER, a mouse-couple and their
off-spring can be responsible for a head-count into the thousands in a couple 
of years!  Sorta like starting a mouse city with two mice...genetic match ups 
by scientists in the field have been able to trace up to 8,000 mice from 
ONE pair of mice....no wonder they die so quickly...they must be VERY tired.

    How much can one mouse eat?
    
    Apparently at least 10 lbs of bird seed plus dry cat food ..........
    
    Lately mine have been catching moles and bringing them in and
    presneting them to me first thing in the morning when I am still
    in bed .......... ugh..
    

    8^)
    
    dm & Benjamin

    Well, I let some of the cats down cellar over the weekend but
    they didn't catch anything as far as I can tell.
      Nancy