Saturday, December 29, 2007

I'm so proud of Jybow

This morning was a morning full of wildlife. It was a cool crisp rain soaked morning and everything seemed to come out from their hiding places once the sun appeared and the clouds disappeared.

Jimmy left the house at the crack of dawn to go feed a few of our grandpets, and as he approached their house he was happily surprised by the sight of four doe's who were nibbling on green little sprouts or left over garden plants. They didn't seen at all alarmed to see him, but once he stepped out of the car the closest one moved several feet away to let him pass. He stood outside on the long front porch and watched the four deer feed for awhile but then realized why he was there and went inside to greet the grandpets who, by this time, were all anxiously waiting to go outside for a little morning run followed by breakfast. Of course the dogs spotted the deer right away and chased them into the forest, and this gave Jimmy time to feed the cats & to prepare the dogs individual food dishes. It wasn't long at all before the three hungry pups reappeared wanting their breakfast. I don't know how three big dogs can lose such big deer, but Jimmy says that the deer are smart...
I say the deer just ran really, really fast.

After we had eaten our breakfast at home I was putting my coffee cup into the sink when I spotted a squirrel in the tree closest to our house...The tree with all the bird feeders hanging from it. The squirrel had apparently been dangling from our newest feeder that we got for Christmas and had spilled most of the sunflower seeds on the ground and Jybow had frightened the squirrel high up into the tree. Jybow & I watched the squirrel...me safely inside from my window and Jybow crouched down 15 feet from the tree's trunk...when that brave little squirrel rushed down the trunk of the tree and down on the ground to the waiting pile of sunflower seeds. The little gray squirrel sat there and ate for at least 30 minutes...I watching from the window and Jybow from 10 feet away. I was so amazed at the restraint of that cat...watching and not moving a muscle...no tail twitching, whisker movement, just eyes focused on the squirrel in amazement. When the squirrel finally finished he went back to the trunk and that's when Jybow finally ran to where the squirrel had sat and smelled the area and then searched the tree for the squirrel. The squirrel climbed to the tree top, sat there for a moment and then came back down to one of the lowest branches and used it to jump into the neighboring large sycamore tree. And from there he made his way back to the creek where it lives.

I've always been afraid that Jybow might try to catch one of the squirrels and both cat & squirrel would end up hurt. They both have great big teeth and claws and could do harm to each other, but I'm now assured that Jybow merely wants to watch, and that pleases me. For several months Jybow has been disappearing to the creek to watch the squirrels feed on field corn that Jimmy feeds them everyday. Jimmy & Jybow both go back to mount the corn in a squirrel feeder and they both come back to the house together, but then Jybow disappears to the creek and we know what she's doing, but now thankfully I know that she is just watching. I am so proud of my big kitty for not trying to kill our little squirrels.


Jybow (and that's Daisy in the background)

How can you hide when you're orange anyway?
And especially when Jimmy rakes up all the pretty yellow,
brown & orange fall colored leaves.
And what incentive is there to eat a squirrel
or a bird when you're well fed.
Or is it because Jybow has always been by our side
as Jimmy & I have fed & watched the wildlife around us.
We have chased strange large dogs from our yard,
fearing that they might harm one of our cats.
And guess who also chases big dogs from our yard?
Yes...the one and only Jybow.
And that scares me more than anything.

2 comments:

Hunter said...

Tigger is still enjoying watching the pidgeons, doves, and tiny sparrows that visit our lanai. Since he's indoor only, he sits at the sliding glass door screen and chitters away at them. If one that's huge comes up to the door, he slinks around the corner and peeks at them until they fly away.

It's funny that he gives himself a "time out" if he gets too excited.

Hugs and cuddles to Jybox and Daisy.

Tropical Screamer

Kerri said...

I just looked back through your recent posts and found this one. What a good kitty Jybow is to not harm the squirrel. We rarely see them around here because our cats are not so benevolent. Jasmine is an ambitious hunter and I've had to save a few birds from her clutches during the summer. Mostly in winter she just watches from inside though.
I enjoyed reading about all the animals :)
Those are content kitties :)