BlerkOne

Raccoon steals the bowl

The little kitten that roared

They leave the adults alone. One night Momma was slapping the bejesus out of one of the raccoons eating out her bowl, and all the raccoon did was pick the bowl of food up and back away with it. Momma looked puzzled.

All good here. Even scored a window table for two.

A .308 would do it. A neighbor occasionally loses a calf to coyotes, so he is proactively trying do deal with them, which saves me from having to try to deal with them. And our dogs make sure I don't have to. I should have taken out the mother raccoon before her babies grew, but didn't. Really didn't want to since one of them is an albino. I mostly just enjoy harassing them with a pellet pistol. They have figured out not to let me see their eyes in the trees.

We lost a number of cats to coyotes when we moved to our current property and before we figured out what was happening. We thought some had just run away, but nope. We now have some coyote dispatching dogs, but one in particular doesn't always know the enemy. Or it could have been a hawk or owl or a raccoon. Maybe even a snake. I found one of the chickens that a dog probably snatched but none of the others. The circle of life.

Meanwhile, before we could trap mommacita, she had another litter - this time of 6! Meanwhile raccoons were also having babies and that can be trouble for kittens. I'd see the momma moving them around via security cameras now and then, and thought for sure she had lost some. I have no idea how, but she managed to keep all of them. She's a great momma, but no match for a herd of raccoons. We decided to help her out, and also get her fixed when possible. We snatched them.

If you followed my last cruise you know about the feral cat that found us and then had a litter of 4 kittens. Unfortunately, something must have grabbed Hammy (my favorite) because he disappeared shortly after we returned from that cruise, along with a couple of hens.

Charlie is depressed at not cruising with us.

Protip - grab a glass from the pour your own beer for an giant size lemonade.

Checkin and boarding were a breeze and there were some drug dogs! They were apparently enforcing appointment times because a lot of people were sitting outside. Parking at the port seems to be a cluster. There is none. They were handing people maps of where to park.

Wouldn't last 30 seconds with cats

Now that's what I'm talking about.

Thank you!

Room with a view? Not so much. And home of $6 water. Welcome to California. But we did pick up cokes and such from Von's at much better prices.

Perfect timing - our temps at home in the 100s are ending and things are cooling off in Alaska, I am expecting temps in the 50s, rain, and occasional fog horns. Probably not much hope to see Aurora, but we'll see. Whales are already wet, so they don't care. Puffins are also waterproof. And our balcony is covered.

10 Sep 17:00 Departing from Los Angeles, Long Beach-San Pedro, California 14 Sep 10:00 - 18:00 Sitka, Baranof Island, Alaska 15 Sep 09:00 - 22:00 Juneau, Alaska 16 Sep 07:00 - 19:00 Skagway, Alaska 17 Sep 11:00 - 19:00 Icy Strait Point, Hoonah, Alaska 18 Sep Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska 19 Sep 08:00 - 18:00 Ketchikan, Revillagigedo Island, Alaska 20 Sep 08:00 - 16:00 Prince Rupert, Kaien Island, BC Canada 24 Sep 08:00 Arriving in Los Angeles, Long Beach-San Pedro, California

These things were interesting. The theory is flies will see their reflection and stay away from you drink or food? PXL_20230910_032255522.TS.mp4

Hotel is Courtyard Long Beach Downtown for some bonus American Airlines points. Another reason is a Von's grocery store about a block away for Cokes, etc. Maybe next time Queen Mary.

Not a jet bridge in sight - who cares?

Forget LAX - fly into LGB. Caught a Southwest nonstop from DFW to LGB. Priceless.

This was the first cruise from Barcelona to NY a few months ago. There were no fights, but there were some punks who flat out lied to security, and a parent or two who likewise lied. And some who claimed they could get away with anything by yelling racist.