[TheForge]

[Ron Childers]

Don't knock the cats, they keep the mice & rat population down. My barn cat
was chasing a squirrel across the ridge of my shop roof; I had taken the
gutters loose to dump the leaves- the squirrel took off down the 6/12 tin
roof with the cat in hot pursuit. When the cat saw he was running out of
space he tried to put on the brakes. He seemed to pick up speed and slid
right into the gutters and cat, gutters and all fell onto a table of do-dads
and scattered everything from hell to breakfast. The cat was none the worse
for wear except for severely damaged pride. The squirrel got away and jumped
to an adjacent tree where he nearly fell out laughing at the poor cat. A
menagerie consisting of possums, foxes, armadillos, raccoons, owls, hawks
and song birds make up a mini ecosystem. Not to mention the rattlesnakes-
the rat snakes share the shop, but I'm not keen on the rattlesnakes so I
imported some king snakes. The feral cats have annihilated the rats around
the house but rarely mess with the birds. Btw, 2 of smudge's kittens are
adopted by loving parents- that leaves three; and they are used to a lot of
noise...We'll make you a deal.