Catzilla attacks!!!!!

We completely understand. This is our oldest "child" trying to help.

 

Mopar. Knew that sooner than later it would happen. Cats hunt by and are attracted to movement. It is only natural for them. That is why I didn't make my two cats into a russian fur hats.

 

Maybe he heard a noise or saw a mouse or a cricket or other rodent/insect and just HAD to investigate!

 

I have kind of moved my work bench into our family room from the garage. It is easier to get around on crutches this way. I am now using a 3'round bar table to do my modeling. My biggest problem now is my two cats get up on the table and casually paw everything onto the floor where my 11 month old can find it and put it in his mouth. My 20 pound cat Newman just lays down in the middle of everything and spreads out knocking just about everything on the floor. I'm still wondering what an orange tabby colored russian fur hat would look like on me. Probably would make me look like a pimp.

 

Sent my catzilla to the farm. Felines and model railroads don't mix.

 

All the cats at home are outside cats. They live permanantly on the back porch. And they are the laziest, good for nothings around. Even though home is in a rural Arizona mile wide high plain, they refuseto go hunting for rodents and other such critters...for a while there, the rat terrier puppy was putting them to shame when it came to gophers exterminated.

Same for my uncle...and you would be amazed at how much less dirt, pollen, and dust is in his house now...Suzie had a habit of coming in, jumping onto the table, and then walking over all of his computer equipment...after she had taken her dust bath. One Month of tough love, and she lives outside on the porch now, although she still looks like she would rather be inside.

 

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by friscobob:


That sounds an awful lot like the phrase "Bowser has gone to live on a big farm in the country" (the lie you tell a kid when you've had the family pet put to sleep)

(just kidding)<hr></blockquote>

Really did send my catzilla to the farm. the kids were . I was . I hear it enjoys being a barn cat. My railroad appreciates the break. Anyone need some kitty litter for ballast? It's the clumping kind. Ha Ha.

 

Lazy? If I lived in southern Arizona and had a permanent fur coat attatched I wouldn't move either!

 

Well, If I was Suzie living in Tucson, yes, ,I would be lazy too.

But now those darn things back home, well, Dewey Arizona is a climatic Phenomenon all in it's self just like the rest of Arizona. It is at about 5000 feet, It is basically located on a descending plane that is in a 3 mile wide plain(like in great plains) that archs off northe and then west becoming mush wider and arching off towad L.A. Directly next to on the remaining three sides there are small scrubcoverd hills to the east, scrub hills to the south, and finall scrub and pine covered hills the the west(direction to Prescott). To the northwest is the exit of that plain(going in this direction, it rises in elevation, until it levels out about 7 to 10 miles away. To the north are large mountians, making the western frnge of the Verde Vally that is as you might say, just over the hill...only 15-18 miles away.

Now that I have laid out the geoprapghy, let me explain a little about the weather. The weather is rarely consistant from one year to the next, but there are some guarantees. In the summer, it is hot(110 to 115 max), and there is a chance for that Arizona Monsoon...it seriously lasts anywhere from ten seconds to two hours, and has the capabilities of anywhere for no precipitation to over an inch of rain...IF IT RAINS at all. I have seen a storm snake through my homeland, and hit EVERYWHERE EXCEPT the house and some other large areas! Most devilish weather if you ask me! The fall can either be a nice indian summer, warm, but not hot, with nice cool breezes(like this year so far), or it can be Freezing cold the first of October like 1999. And maybe windy, which means that it can be really miserable. In the winter, there might be two or three Good snowstorms, but it all usually melts off rapidly or sticks around for a couple of days, depending on how the sun is feeling. I have seen years in which the thermometer fails to get above 30, and some years where it gets up to 70. Either way, I can usually guarantee that there will not be a white Chistmas Then there is spring, filled with nice warm sun and bone chilling breezes. either way, it is nice, about 70 to 80, anf finally peaks out into the summer months.

And with any season, I can almost guarantee that the cats will be sleeping on the back porch, or lounging around, or chasing little dogs that come too close to the kittens(the dogs LOVE this little game, cats are not too thrilled to be involved in this sport. Coyotes and mysterious problems usually knock off the kittens, so there isn't really ever a cat population problem.

Well, you might be able to see why I might base my Model railroad on the Arizona environment...where else can you prototypically go less the five miles and go all the way form the timber mining region of crown King all the way to pure saguaro cactus desert!

 

Yes, the coyotes are a bit big, but the terriers are not. And the Cats, depending on the presense of kittens, will attck the dogs if they come to close. And I knew of a cat Sunshine that would leave weeks at a time, come home all beat up, and then go back out once he had healed.

I tell you, if I have a choice between meeting a wolf or a wildcat in the woods, I still don't know which I would prefer...the wolfs are less scaredy of humans, but those cats got terrible claws and fangs!

 

My wife & I spent a week at the Camelback Spa & Hotel in Scottsdale, March of 2000. We rented a car and drove to Grand Canyon, Sedona & Meteor Crater (Winslow). Arizona is truly a state with every climate. While it was sunny and 78 in Phoenix, we almost got snowed in at Sedona. We drove through Flagstaff right after they had a 28" snowfall to get to Grand Canyon. They don't salt the roads there like they do in Ohio. We rode the Grand Canyon R.R. to the canyon from Williams where it was dry and 50 but by the time we got to the canyon it was 34 and there was 3" of snow on the ground. (which is the best way to view the canyon, we were told). We also went to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad park in Scottsdale,(a must see for any railroad buff). During our stay we had dinner one night with a client of my wife's who lives in Phoenix and told her that we were ready to pack up and move to this beautiful area. Well, after her describing stepping outside in the summer like opening the oven in your face, and mentioning things like scorpions, black widows, killer bees and gila monsters we had second thoughts. I have lived in northern Texas (Vernon) and southern Texas (Beaumont) I can deal with the creepy crawleys but I don't think the wife can. So we'll stay here in Concord, Ohio, where the summers are sticky as New Orleans and the winters offer more snow than Alaska gets. Arizona is truly Beautiful Though. Maybe when we retire. Hmmmmmmm........