Thursday, June 29, 2006

Critters

Very recently a certain smart-ass copy editor referenced this site as the "Wannabe Corral". While it is true that I am a native Texan, I would like to make clear that it's been many, many years since I've set foot in a corral. (The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo counts, I guess, so we'll call it 1992).

Much to my parents' dismay, I moved from Texas to "might-as-well-be-a-Yankee-land" in 1998. My argument that Maryland is still south of the Mason-Dixon Line didn't impress. Nor did referencing Virginia as "The South" and saying Texas is really more "Southwest." Oh, no, that one was definitely not well-received. How dare I lump Texas, Our Texas with such paltry states as Arizona or New Mexico? (No offense, ya'll Southwesterners).

The rest of my immediate family still resides within 20 miles of my childhood home in a rather rural area east of Houston. Please, wipe away that mental image of longhorn cattle and oil derricks. Rural does not equal stereotypical. But it is rural: there isn't really any public transportation, the nearest honest-to-God mall is about 45 minutes away, and it was a big deal when McDonald's came to town. Okay? Small town. It's the kind of town where dogs sometimes trot leashless on the residential streets, and the annual county fair means no school for two days (the FFA kids have to show their pigs and calves, you know.)

In this environment, stray cats can also occasionally appear. Now, my momma likes cats nearly as much as I like dogs. Over the years, she has fed many a cat that appeared on her doorstep. A choice few were invited into the home with the associated privileges of litter box use, smelly canned cat food, and all the lap sitting and petting a cat could want. Others ate once or twice and then disappeared again. Most, however, became regular "outdoor" cats: cats that were not affectionate enough to be a housecat, but visited the doorstep at least twice daily for meals.

Such is life at MommaWhit's in Smalltown, Texas. I imagine it's not a bad life for the cats, as long as they are wise to the ways of neighborhood traffic. There are lots of birds and squirrels for entertainment. And armadillos, of course. I specifically did NOT remove armadillos from that stereotypical mental image, because there are armadillos aplenty in my momma's neck of the woods (despite the fact that Suzanne has yet to see one in a form other than roadkill).

FYI, nothing makes yappy dachshunds bark more than a nest of armadillos under the house. Except, perhaps, raccoons eating the catfood on the doorstep - along with the cats.






I say "perhaps" because my parents no longer have dachshunds.

Obviously, there is no corral.


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10 comments:

sporksforall said...

Wendy you have NO idea how accurate your decription of scout is. So, so accurate, it's scary.

Oh, and it's totally your fault I can't get "I am Woman" out of my ***** head.

WenWhit said...

MY fault? Your smartass Honey started it. ;p

Middle Girl said...

Critters have been popping up all over blog lands I've been visiting lately. Having grown up in a very large, very urban city I didn't see anything more *exotic* than a rabid dog until I moved to the burbs in my 20's. The first flash of a rabbit had my heart racing just a bit. We won't even talk about the reaction to the first possum. Though sightings are not frequent, they are regular enough. Pretty much acclimated now,heart rate stays fairly normal when critters appear. However, I still give them their space.

Teresa said...

Squirrels are about the best we can do for backyard wildlife, though we once had a possum dine at our "outdoor cat" food dish. We feed a stray we call Slinky. (We've imposed on her a whole secret life as an enterprising business cat who scams naive indoor pets with promises of cellular and Internet service, but that's another story.)

At our old apartment we had a possum family living in our Dumpster for a while, and they'd hiss and spit at us every time we went to throw something away.

My mother has a corral. There's no shame in it. I'd be far more chagrined at the idea of coming from Bush country. ; )

And as for the smart-ass thing, well, I have to own it, don't I? Sporks already ratted me out. And I was so trying to reinvent myself on this Internet thingy.

WenWhit said...

Believe me, being from the same state as Beelzebubba has caused me more than a few moments of consternation.

Consider yourself a work in progress. And besides, I've chosen to share my life with Suzanne. Isn't it obvious that I like smartasses?

(Te amo, Suz - y bueno arbusto!)

Suzanne said...

Te amo tambien, Wendita. Bueno arbusto indeed!

Aren't we all works in process? I myself am not attempting to reform my smart ass nature, rather I'm nurturing it. scout, why ever would you wish to reform? :)

We're got all kinds of critters in our part of surburbia: deer and foxes and bunnies and coons and squirrels and some odd thing resembling a coyote, but we haven't seen that scrawny creature in awhile. Oh. And rednecks. We've got rednecks around too.

But no corrals. Somehow I feel slighted now.

maxine said...

You sound like you came this far without letting anyone know you came this far.Did you come this far and not tell us? That would be so wrong.

WenWhit said...

Bluebonnet... no, no, no. Those pics are actually from last October. I went home for about a week (without the Missus) when my uncle passed away.

If'n ya'll are still willin' by then, me and her would be right pleased to visit yer neck of the woods when we kin make that thar trip.

Suzanne said...

Maxine, I fully anticipate building a visit-our-lesbian-friends segment into our next jaunt to Texas.

But first we have NYC! Fifteen days and counting. :)

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