A simple thing in life

Yesterday I visited Yvonne in hospital and when I came out and got to my car I was a little bit down in the dumps. I was sat in the car when I think is the resident squirrel came bounding across the road at the front of me.I sat and watched its high jinks bounding about and climbing the hand rails for about 5 mins. This put a smile on my face and I came home happier.Who would have thought a squirrel would cheer me up

It took your mind off your troubles for a short time Peter,

I know some people will scoff but God works in funny ways.

We can learn a lot from the animals.
Here's an instance ...... A few years ago, a little bird was flying south for the winter and it was so cold that his wings froze. He came down close to a farm, in the middle of a field, and he lay there.
Well, there were cows living in that field and, after a number of minutes, a cow walked by, stopped, and dropped a dollop of dung right on top of the little bird. However, all was not lost, as the dollop of cow dung was warm and it started to thaw him out, slowly but surely. After a few minutes the little bird was thoroughly thawed out and ready to carry on his journey. He was so overjoyed that he sang, and he sang loudly. He sang so much and so loudly, that his joy was heard on the nearby farm, by the farm cat, who went to investigate. The cat followed the joyful birdsong until he came upon the little bird lying in the pile of warm cow dung and he promptly dug him out - and ate him!
Now, from this we learn three things ...... One, not everyone who shits on you is your enemy. Two, not everyone who digs you out of the shit is your friend. And Three, when you find yourself deep in the shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut !

Yep,,, those are wise words Tonker

Another tale with a moral,
A little sparrow was sitting a a fence and everything was ok in its little world when all of a sudden a tomcat came from nowhere and bit the sparrow and damaged one of its wings, Unable to make a clean getaway but still able to gain enough height to dodge further damage from the cat and get to safety and then fell into a large steaming heap of bull muck that the farmer had collected for fertilizer, Once inside the heap the crippled bird could rest and feed off the nutrias bugs and insects that feed on the dung, After about a month the wing mended itself through rest and healthy eating the little sparrow ventured out to test its wings, That worked perfect, just like new and the sparrow flew to the highest branch in the tallest tree to sing to the world in happiness,
Unfortunately for the sparrow , Little Johnny Giles, The farmers son was out with his air rifle and the singing attracted his attention, He shot the little sparrow and it fell to the ground, awww,
The moral of the story is,
When you get to the top through Bullshit, Don't go telling everyone,

PeterP

I am glad that squirrel made you happy, but there is a saying, and that is that every cloud has a silver lining, however it can be said that every silver lining has a cloud, and I don't want to 'rain on your parade' BUT,, that Squirrel will have been a Grey Squirrel, and those sort of Squirrels are shithouse Squirrels, who are not native to this country, our Squirrels are Red Squirrels and those Grey Squirrels are interlopers

They are native to America and have gotten themselves over here, and are bigger than our Red Squirrels, and they have decimated the British Red Squirrel numbers by taking over the Red Squirrel habitats, they are a pest

Maybe Peter, it might be an idea for yoo too buy a squirrel LINK

They are Muslims?

I was once having my lunch break in my van and, we were in a wooded area with many grey squirrels I threw a few crusts for them and they were coming for them, So I threw a few more crusts and then out of no where a Magpie landed and grabbed the crusts, the squirrels out numbered the magpie by 4 to one but, did't challenge the magpie so, I'd say the magpies are bigger shithouses than grey squirrels

I have seen Magpies challenging cats, and Seagulls fighting cats, and train drivers tell you that in Spring when it's sprung, Pheasants and Partridges will sit on the railway lines, and it doesn't matter how much racket the driver makes with the train horns, they don't move, they just sit there and get squashed, but Crows and members of the Crow family, of which I do believe the Magpie is a member of that family, the birds which don't hop, they walk, if they are on a railway line as a train is approaching, they will jump off the rails to avoid being hit by the train

In Canada and America, grey squirrels are called tree rats, and for good reason. However, that doesn't matter as that little creature brought a smile to Peter's mouth after visiting Yvonne.

True Story:

When my husband was posted to Londonderry in the early 70s, we were given a lovely house to live in, in an area called Campsie, and we'd taken our little cat with us.

The large back garden was in a right state and we'd no gardening tools, but hubby found a machete from somewhere and started to hack some of it down until we could get someone to sort it out properly. The weeds must have been around 5ft tall!

Anyway, during this task we came across a bird stand which had been hidden in the weeds and a day later, Ceilidh (our cat), came rushing in, round my legs, drawing my attention, running to the back door and back again. This strange behaviour was a mystery to me, so hubby and I followed her outside. She rushed over to the bird stand and there, on the ground, was a baby bird who hadn't yet learned how to fly. On the rooftop there were several birds squawking and screeching, so we picked up the baby and put him on the bird stand, then we stood back. Within moments, two bigger birds flew down, picked up the baby under its wings with theirs, and took him back to safety.

We were so proud of our little cat for helping that baby bird.

You had a very special cat there Mollie, I hate cats because in my experience, they attack birds but, not for food, they kill them and bring them as a gift to the owner and place them at the back door, As if to say,
" here's my rent money" , I've witnessed them stalking the birds at my feeding stations and I have learned to put the feeding stations in places where cats cant get to easily, Also cats like to shit in my garden, I have at least 4 regular " roamers", I don't know who owns them and, I would't harm them but, they know how to move quick when i open my door to greet them,

Tom, you don't HATE any animal, but I know what you mean, and I don't blame you, as they can be a nuisance. You can deter them though with orange or lemon peel around your garden as cats hate citrus smells and they'll keep away.

Yes, she was a very special little cat. Highly intelligent compared to some of the thick heads we'd had. I could fill a forum with tales of my cats from the past, but I won't bore, but cats are natural predators and, if they're not being fed by humans, they will hunt to kill, mainly by the females, as with the big cats in the jungle.

Red squirrels, I believe, are being re-populated now in this country, so I hope they survive.

Mollie M when you compare a red squirrel up against a grey squirrel its like putting a mouse up against a rat The grey's are two /three times bigger than the reds and also I believe they carry some form of virus which kills the reds. With human intervention the red population will slowly expand across the country. The last time I saw a red was at Astley Hall Chorley.

Oh yes, Peter, absolutely. The greys are much bigger than the reds and they are dangerous to other animal life.

My friend in Canada was telling me of the time when her attic had some of them in there and they'd gnawed their way through the eaves of the house, so they had to get an exterminator in to get rid of them; and, when I was in America a good few years ago, I caught sight of one running along a telephone cable like a tightrope walker high up. That also brought me a smile when I was also feeling down, but I knew then they were a nuisance. It's a shame, but that's a part of nature.

I don't dislike cats but nearly every day I end up cleaning cat crap up out of my gardens I have various plants which so called deter them . I have put orange peel and eggshell in the garden bought various powders and citrus shakes to try to stop them and I have two sonic cat scarers but they still crap in the gardens.The cats love leaping along the roofs of the bungalows in the early morning and I often wonder how they get up there

"The cats love leaping along the roofs of the bungalows in the early morning and I often wonder how they get up there"

They use a ladder! Deerrrrrrrr!

Tonker is that why there called cat ladders?

Another American import are those 'Nasty Mink' LINK

They're not nasty Tommy Tee Nice video BTW and I note is was made 11 years ago and since then I've never actually seen a mink over the Wigan flashes, I've heard many have but I haven't and I'm a frequent visitor, I've seen deer many times and the usual rabbits ,foxes , squirrels , stoats , rats mice and umpteen different types of ducks and water birds so. They're not a very big threat to the nature balance in my opinion,

Re cats , I read recently that cats with collars on with a little bell to stalk birds have mow learned how to walk without making the bell ring.. but the best one is a one time neighbour of mine who incidentally adored cats owned one that kept bringing her one pound coins back to her, and up to press have never found out where he got them from…

His name wasn't Fagin, was it? Maybe he'd learned how to be a pick pocket!

I know cats, mainly females, do kill for sport, but it's part of their nature as it stimulates their brain. It's what big cats do in the wild as it's inbred. A bored cat that never goes out can become aggressive to humans.

My current cat doesn't go hunting (too lazy I suppose), but a past cat brought live pigeons, sparrows, voles and long thick juicy worms! She rarely killed them, and they do that as a thank you present to their servants - namely us!