Damn skunks!

[lonewolfz28]

I hate fucking morons like that.

What happens to that population of raccoons once that old idiot keels over? Better yet, what happens to the neighborhood once he's no longer around to feed them? They're going to be going to all kinds of lengths to find food once he's not there to feed them hot dogs and they'll have zero fear of humans. The neighborhood will have to deal with an over-inflated raccoon population that the non-human resources can't support.

Not to mention what will happen if rabies is introduced into the equation.
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Socially distancing since 1970.

[goobee]

That is exactly what I was thinking while he was doling out the wieners to them. What if one or more of them have rabies and bit him?
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[lonewolfz28]

Rocket raccoon is back with a vengeance. It seems determined to destroy the little insulated shelter I bought for the stray cat last winter. There's a heating pad inside of a fuzzy cover and the damn raccoon has destroyed both the cover and the heating pad.

The first sound of the door knob and it's off like a bottle rocket. Not that I'd probably get a shot off anyways. My air rifle has stopped working. From what I've been reading, they used a cheap plastic part to hold the pressure seal mechanism and after a few hundred shots it breaks and makes the rifle an expensive paperweight. And good luck getting parts for it, much less getting it back together right if you can get a new part.

So, I broke down and ordered a different type of air rifle with a much better reputation: https://www.airgundepot.com/hatsan-invader-air-rifle.html

Only 12 shots in the clip instead of 30, but as fast as the raccoon is, I doubt I can get more than 12 shots off anyway. Hopefully, I got the last one because now they are "pre-order" instead of "In Stock". I also have a spare air cylinder and a hand pump on the way. No more buying expensive CO2 cartridges just to have them leak down before I get another chance to shoot. Gonna be a workout pumping them up to 4000psi using a glorified bicycle pump.

I'll see how I like it and how much work it is pumping them up before I slap down another several hundred dollars for an electric pump (most of which die quickly from reviews I've read) or on a scuba tank that I'd have to keep paying to get refilled.
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Socially distancing since 1970.

[goobee]

Wow, those air guns are expensive. I hope this one lasts longer than the other one.

I had a feral cat crapping in my back yard for some time now. Even though there's no exposed dirt in my yard, that cat would come by just to crap on top of the rocks. I chased it, threw rocks at it and even used harsh language and it would keep coming back.

I finally broke down and got one of those motion activated water sprinklers and it did the job. He no longer comes into my backyard anymore.
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[lonewolfz28]

We used to have 3 strays that came around. One didn't come around that often and stopped a long time ago. One, Oliver, was a regular but didn't really live here. He stopped coming around a couple of weeks ago. That was fine with me since he was tick ridden and was constantly harassing the third one. The last one is Jethro. Jethro basically lives here, just outside only. I'd love to adopt her and bring her inside during the winter, but the two indoor cats would never stand for it, according to Maye.

So, I try to make her as comfortable and safe as possible because she is a real sweetheart and an awesome hunter. The mice can't get anywhere near the house with her around. Same goes for the chipmunks that were trying to move into my garage and the annoying as hell woodpecker that was knocking holes in my shed.

I'm going to miss her if anything happens to her.
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Socially distancing since 1970.

[goobee]

I'm usually OK with stray cats. The ones around are more feral than stray, they don't trust anyone. I've tried feeding a couple and they never accept the food. They just stare at me and never look at the food. I wander off and come back later, it's still there untouched.

The one you like, Jethro was probably abandoned. I hate people who abandon animals. People can be such shitheads.
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[lonewolfz28]

Yeah, she might have been abandoned. I think she had a home but was left outside to wander and decided our enclosed porch was a much safer and nicer place with better food. She still disappears for nearly a day occasionally, so she might be going back to visit.
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Socially distancing since 1970.

[goobee]

That sounds pretty likely. She goes back hoping that either her former owner takes her back in or if they have moved away, come back. Either way, sad.
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[lonewolfz28]

Well, it's official, I have Lyme disease. That explains why I've been feeling like crap for the last month or so. They finally got the tests back today. I got the other lab results early this week that showed my kidneys aren't functioning as well as they should be and my white blood cell count was elevated. It was obvious that my body was fighting something, but we weren't 100% sure it was from the tick bite a month and a half ago or not.

Still plan on working through it the best I can. But, it makes me that much madder when some of my coworkers don't show up or constantly leave early because their feet hurt, or their hands hurt, or they don't feel good. It's always the same ones, too. I just want to bounce them off a wall and say, "there, now you've got something legitimate to bitch about, you fucking snowflake".

I've been working through two torn rotator cuffs, plantar fasciitis in both feet, bad knees, two bad discs, carpel tunnel, trigger finger, low lung function, a kidney that has been hurting like hell, and now Lyme disease for the past several weeks. Zero missed days and put in over 40 hours every week. And that's not even counting all the hours of research I do on my own time at home. Heck, last weekend I put 8+ unbilled hours into an analysis of two machines Mike is trying to decide between. Got a sincere thank you on Monday. But, these assholes can't even be bothered to show up for 40 hours a week?

I wonder if the new antibiotic they're putting me on reacts with alcohol because I'm going to need a serious drink by the time this week is over.
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Socially distancing since 1970.

[goobee]

Lyme disease, oh man that can get bad. It gets worse with time so it's good that you were diagnosed now. It's treatable early so hopefully nothing will be permanently damaged.
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[lonewolfz28]

I'm finishing up my Doxycycline antibiotic that they prescribed for me a week ago "just in case". I just picked up and started my Azithromycin and Atovaquone, two more antibiotics, today. I've got 10 days of that and then I guess I'm done unless I keep having symptoms. They didn't say anything about a follow-up.
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Socially distancing since 1970.

[goobee]

Perhaps that's a good sign that they don't think your infection is serious.

Either that or your healthcare really sucks over there.
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[lonewolfz28]

Doxycycline is a pretty standard treatment for Lyme disease and usually does the trick. Atovaquone is geared more towards treating Babesia, another tick borne illness. Azithromycin attacks bacterial infections in a different way than Doxycycline, but has shown promise in studies for treating Lyme.

Basically, he's attacking it from every direction he can and also covering his bases against other tick-borne illnesses that may not have shown up yet.

There's one healthcare system around here that doesn't even recognize Lyme disease as an illness yet.
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Socially distancing since 1970.

[goobee]

They don't recognize lyme disease? They don't still bleed people as a cure do they?

We have lyme disease in Northern CA in the rural areas. None here, I guess ticks weren't prevalent in Southern CA since most of the area here was desert before CA stole water from the Colorado river to "green" up this area.
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[lonewolfz28]

You also don't have many deer around that part of CA. It's the deer ticks that carry Lyme and Babesia. The ones on cats and dogs rarely carry it.

Yeah, I was surprised to hear that from the owner's son. His wife had it, and they had to go to a different healthcare system to get her treated properly.

Ticks also don't last long in hot, dry conditions.

I got the new gun pumped up using the hand pump last night, sighted in this morning and pumped back up this evening. Pumping that thing up is quite a workout. It's like doing several hundred squats in rapid succession, plus you're having to put a lot of effort into it going down and back up.

I'm definitely getting an electric pump. You only get ~50 good shots on one fill. That would quickly suck the fun out of target shooting. I do have a spare air cylinder that I can swap in to prolong the session. But, then I'd have to pump up both cylinders.

Hopefully, Rocket Raccoon shows up tonight. I've got the screen door open, so I only have to open one door to get out there. I've had enough of that thing tearing stuff up.

It decided to attack my smoker last night after I went to bed. It yanked the drippings bucket off and tried to yank the insulation blanket off as well. It was bad enough when it was destroying the cat house in the closed in porch. You don't mess with my expensive smoker. At least it didn't rip the wiring out of it...yet.
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Socially distancing since 1970.