Thursday, February 19, 2009

Wild Kingdom

Maybe Torrance has potential as a tourist destination after all! Dale made this sign a few years ago when things were really getting crazy in the back yard. It hangs on the patio with all the other doo-dads. 
I can see it now....something along the lines of those mom-n-pop roadside attractions  that dotted the highways in places like The Everglades in the '40s and '50s: "Feed the wild alligators!", "Land of 10,000 Snakes", "Home of Bubba the Dancing Bear".  I could sell lemonade and cookies. 

There are three more additions to the Wild Animal Park. Right around Christmas we noticed a very pregnant cat was hanging out under our deck. It was super timid, but would come out and eat the food we put out. Then another cat appeared a few days later. We call this one Charlie. When I came home from work about two weeks ago I saw a cat across the street near where the Irish guys live in the corner house. About a half hour later he was on the patio eating the food I had just put out for Charlie and MomCat! This guy is black with white paws and whiskers--I named him Black Irish. So now we have three cats hanging around plus FatCat. 
What's up with all these cats? They are all in really good shape but very timid. I heard that there is an upturn in abandoned animals due to the bad times and foreclosures. I asked the animal control guy if he noticed that happening in Torrance, but he said thankfully no. And also said that there's a limit of 3 animals of one species allowed per household--and that by feeding these strays we are the de-facto owners! Doh! 

5 comments:

Miss Healthypants said...

Now you're a crazy cat lady! Awesome! *grin*

Jeanna said...

Really, three per household, the cat lady wouldn't go for that. My cousin just had a cat come around out of nowhere and decide it wasn't going away. It's now a total inside cat.
Love the sign.
I want to hear more about the Irish guys.
It just kills me that people can abandon animals like that. Bet they don't recycle either.

MaryRuth said...

MHP--just doing my part! =) But I am finding they are using my rock garden as a litter box...not awesome.
Jeanna--yep, three of one species, and four pets total. Since you are kind of new to the blog, you can read about our last stray here :
http://mke2lax.blogspot.com/2008/11/rip-hellcat.html
Nothing too exciting about the Irish guys.. I think there's a Scot there too. Just a bunch of guys living in the corner house. Real quiet, I think they are house painters or something. They had a party once with a live band, and invited us neighbors over.

Unknown said...

O.K., I know you always liked cats. Your problem is your allergies ! The way Mr. Byrnes told it was, " The cat owns you not the otherway around." Ask the " Trainer" how he knows they are yours ? Tattoos ? PS, Mr Byrnes was Irish !!!! Litter---I guess it's yours.

MaryRuth said...

Dad--that's what makes these stray cats so good....they really don't come in the house to aggravate my allergies! I just wish they did a little more "hunting" of squirrels and raccoons.
I just hope that cat doesn't have kittens under the deck.