I have put up a lot of black walnuts. How hard can it be? uhmmmmm.... Make sure to check out the best ways on youtube. Flavor is definitely worth it to some. Hickory nuts are easier.
I don't think we have the wild hickory trees here whose nuts are edible. Wish we did. These all have smooth bark. (Bitternut hickory maybe?) There is one over the driveway which just started producing a few years ago. The truck pops them when you drive over. Sounds like firecrackers. I've never cracked a nut yet that had anything inside but shriveled up brown stuff. Maybe the squirrels got the good ones, and these are all rejects.
Interesting that here, the squirrels and chipmunks know which ones have good nuts in them. I have planted a few and just when the seedlings appear, the chipmunks come and rip them out of my planters and eat the nuts attached. the cotyledens/first leaves are out and roots are down and they rip my poor seedlings out to eat whatever is left in the shell attached. Critters must be able to smell the viable nuts. When you process black walnuts be sure and wear gloves.
I've had the opposite happen. A strange plant came up in a flower pot on the deck one spring. Emptied the pot and found a pecan the squirrels had planted in the fall. I think the squirrels know which nuts are bad just by picking them up. I got 11 trees planted yesterday. Two were sorry looking, one had a crooked stem — the first 2 I found, when I thought they would all be sorry. But you never know. Sometimes the worst looking ones take off and end up just fine, or the smaller ones grow faster than the bigger ones. Might as well put them all across the back too. I figure one day the neighbors will come cut those Leyland Cyprus down, or they will die from English Ivy or kudzu overgrowth. Then all you'll see is a parking lot, and the birds won't like it. Twenty more should do it, if all of them live. If I change my mind I can always snip, snip, snip, and they're gone. One truckload hauled off.
It has been 2 months since the cat's dental surgery. She has not improved, technically. I've just adjusted everything so as to make the symptoms not as pronounced. Less pawing at the mouth and not throwing up as much, but still doing both. Vet appointment at 9:30 this morning to possibly do an ultrasound or X-rays, and the cat sensed it, in spite of trying to keep everything normal. Two things were different. I got dressed in street clothes, and took away food at midnight because of possible anesthesia. She's been hiding, or darting from one hiding place to another, all morning. Keeps a 20 foot distance at all times. I had to call and cancel. The vet did mention once I could bring her in at any time during hours and board her overnight for an appointment the next day. That's a possibility. It would make it even harder to catch her next time I suspect, if she had to spend the night in a cage there. The vet school was always the last resort, because you can just walk in any time, 24/7/365, as long as you are willing to wait. They prefer you to call first, but if you do, they will ask you what's wrong, and may tell you not to come (e.g., dental issues). If I just took her in and don't mention anything dental, could I trick them into seeing her? Since the surgery is over, it's not technically a dental issue now. I think I will try that one evening. Nothing to lose trying.
I don’t know how cats sense they are about to be put into a carrier! I have had my cat carrier set out for a month before the Vet appointment to get him used to seeing it out. He would check it out and then would sleep in side of it, and on top of the carrier daily. Then on Vet day, game on! He wouldn’t come near me, and normally he is under my feet all the time. All the felines that I have ever had sensed a Vet visit. I had a few feral cats in my hood that I wanted to catch and take in to get fixed. It seems most Vets want you to make an appt. for this. I try to explain to them that I cannot guarantee that I can trap the cat for a specific time.” Well, sorry”, they say but you need an appointment anyway. I understand appointments, but I would also think they would understand about the hellish bloody nightmare of stuffing a feral or tame cat in a carrier; claws and teeth. After calling almost every Vet around, I finally found one that said to bring kitty in whenever you can catch it and they will work him in.
Oh thank you for that post, Krystal. I was beginning to think it's just crazy me and my crazy cat. I'm afraid the vet will think I must torture this cat. When I called to cancel the girl said, "Did you ever try leaving the carrier out and open all the time." I've kept it out and open for weeks and mine won't go near it in any position. It has been out since before the surgery, but on end with the door open, in a central location so I can drop her in from above from anywhere with minimum distance to travel. No way I'd be able to stuff her in sideways, the normal way.
That's my cat. The picture below was taken last week after one of the many times she voluntarily jumped up on my lap while I'm watching TV. I'm good to her. Honest I am.
This is one of our vets (cat only) demonstrating his technique for getting kitties into carriers. It looks good but our problem is usually being able to grab the little snots in the first place. Their sixth sense of vet trips activates and it’s nearly impossible to catch them. Anyway, every little bit helps I suppose.
Thanks, Thomas. Putting the carrier at waist height is a great idea. But why are those cats not squirming? Mine would be twisting, writhing, thrashing, with all fours, so fast it would be a blur to watch. I'd never be able to put my hand over her eyes. Last time I had to "Squish" her against my chest just to get her to hold still.
I hear ya. Last time one of our rescues had to make a routine vet trip, I had to change clothes because of all the blood on my sweatshirt. She wasn’t hostile, just scared and trying her best to get away and I was the impediment to a clean escape.
Cats are just cats. I found a discarded cat on my farm and while trying to decide how to catch him he just walked into the carrier. of course it was below zero and he probably knew anywhere would be warmer than in a farm yard. And there are cats that like water. Unfortunately the chances of getting one are thin. My barn cat used to try to kill me if I was just putting him in the car! Now he jumps in cuz it's warm and when I get him down the driveway, he does not leave without 'encouragement' Most cats just won't fall for 'tricks'. They are smarter than we are. Has to be something in it for them
Sting, on the challenges of being a songwriter “Songwriting,” said Sting, “Is much like trying to catch a wild animal. Only you cannot kill the beast – you have to somehow trick him into being captured. And you can never use the trick twice.” He has had many dogs, but no record of cats