A Friend For Annie

For the last several days we have been experiencing record high temperatures in the mid-90s. Although it’s now autumn, the temperatures are higher than any we’ve had this summer. In fact,  the National Weather Service says that our  temperatures in Northern Michigan this weekend were hotter than the nation’s typical hot spots–hotter than places such as Houston, Honolulu, Miami, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.

The hot temperatures have been horrid, and we’ve been melting. Doing any activity leaves me drained, red-faced, and wet with sweat. Ugh. We have one more day of heat and then the temperatures for Wednesday will plunge to a high of 64 degrees. I can’t wait. I’m barely holding on….

This is the time of year when we keep finding wolf spiders on the porch at night. I hate it when Danny wants out after dark at this time of year; fortunately, it’s not often. I always put a leash on Danny at night because he is black and invisible in the dark. I carefully scanned the porch before I opened the door and didn’t see any spiders so I felt it was safe. However, when we returned, there were two large wolf spiders on the porch. I stifled a scream and hurried us inside as quickly as possible. (Shudder). Saturday night EJ and I sat in the kitchen and watched the wolf spiders hunting on the porch. We saw two: one large and one huge, but neither anywhere near as big as Shelob. We didn’t see them actually catch anything. In the autumn mornings, I often see one or two dead wolf spiders on the porch so something is apparently hunting them. I googled it and discovered that wasps, amphibians, reptiles, birds, shrews, coyotes, and birds eat wolf spiders. Wolf spiders eat all sorts of insects (which may be why I find dead insect bodies on the porch), amphibians, and reptiles. Yikes! They also hunt spiders, including other wolf spiders. Wolf spiders are nasty.

Sunday EJ and I had some errands to run. We drove to Joann’s Fabrics, Meijers, the farm store for some poultry feed. We stopped at a farm market for some apples. Next year we will be able to get some apples from our own trees that we planted…IF we can keep the deer from munching on the trees over the winter. We ended our errands at the local grocery store where JJ works.

JJ had to work yesterday until about 8 p.m. When he arrived home, he said that as he was driving home, a couple were walking alongside the road. They frantically waved him to stop. He didn’t know if there was some sort of emergency–an accident ahead or something? So he stopped and the woman, without saying a word, tried to open the door to get inside. Fortunately, the doors were all locked so JJ just drove on. If it had been any sort of emergency the couple would have spoken up, not just tried to get into the car. JJ called the police when he got home. An officer stopped by but said he wasn’t able to find them. He said he would drive around a bit and let JJ know if he found them, but otherwise let it drop. Apparently the officer didn’t find them because he didn’t contact JJ again.

EJ drove in to work today and then came right back home because his back hurt and he wasn’t feeling well. Poor guy. 😦

Although we didn’t really want another cat, EJ and I have been discussed getting another outside cat to keep Annie company. She has seemed very lonely since Tesla, our other outside cat, died of very old age last autumn. We weren’t sure where to find one–we wanted to make sure a new cat was fixed and that it wasn’t a problem for it to be outside. The animal shelters we were familiar with downstate all required that adopted cats be kept inside. Also, we didn’t want a huge adoption fee.

Today at Facebook, a local animal control /shelter posted “We have a very special Kitty in need of a barn life. She is spayed and vaccinated. She is not enjoying a home life. Sheba has been adopted and returned twice. Do you have room in your barn for her?” 

We contacted the shelter and discovered that they were having a special adoption and the fee was only $10. So I hopped in the suburban and went to get the kitty. I learned that she’s been returned to the shelter twice already. Her first home had small children and they scared her. Her second owner returned her because she wasn’t happy inside–although the second owner only kept her for a couple of days, and EJ and I don’t think that’s long enough for a cat to adjust to a new home. We’ve had some new cats that boldly explored our home as if they had always lived there, while others have hidden for a week before they ventured out. But, whatever. The cat apparently isn’t cuddly, which isn’t a problem since she is going to live outside. When the animal control person tried to take her out of the cage, the cat kept grabbing the cage door and it took forever to get her to let go. Then it was difficult to get her in our cat carrier. Poor thing.

The new kitty looks a lot like Tesla, Annie’s companion who died. When I got her home, we blocked the pet door so she and Annie can’t get out of the garage. We will keep them in the garage for a couple of days so they can get used to each other and so the new kitty can learn that this is now her “home.”

We don’t really like the name Sheba so we’ve been trying to think of a new name. Maybe something that is sort of old fashioned-ish like Annie’s name. I’m thinking something like Millie? Molly? Any suggestions?