Bud of a different kind

 The last heated house came today and because these brats are so filthy, I made covers from an old percale sheet.  The fleece covers that were included hold the cat hair and in order to remove for cleaning, the power plug must be pulled through it.  Mark has a safe extension cord in the back and I have no plan to crawl in and unplug to remove for washing.  It took a while to measure and cut but I made a sort of pillow case with a slit for the cord, can be slipped off and on with no cord involvement.  Yay!  Quick and easy hair removal on the smooth fabric.  So the crabass is pleased!

That large opossum is probably a female because the little ones came to visit the following night.  They ran as soon as I appeared at the door.   Last night I was on the phone with Carole and heard a racket, it was a huge raccoon that knocked Petey's dishes away from him, scattering the cat food across the deck.  I had to dig pieces out of the spaces between the decking or the opossum would be.  

This brought back memories of the sweetest little raccoon ever, and deserves posting again. Every day we were visited and the face on this sweetie was irresistible.  Petite and friendly, we named him Bud.  One year, Bud came to get his daily baloney and bread, turned to look behind, and then gave the go ahead to a litter of six tiny furballs.  From then on, Bud became Budette, we were honored to be trusted with yearly visits of her offspring.  She's the second from the left.

The normal life span in the wild is 2 to 3 years, much longer if kept.  My gal Bud was with us for five years.  Every day, she would come to our back door and look in, I would talk to her while she was dining on the deck after gently taking the food from my hand.  Raccoons are not gentle, docile critters, but she was so different from the very beginning.  Most days, she would go into the cat box beneath the plywood and take a nap after dinner until it was dark.  We wrapped 4x4 pieces of plywood with plastic and leaned them to create a dry place for food and shelter when attempting to civilize the brats.   

One year, I could see the change in her face and fur, told Mark she was failing. Bud became slower and the look in those sweet eyes told me she was nearing her end.  One morning, I prepared the cat dishes and as I opened the back door, I saw her little leg sticking out of the box she napped in.  She came to be close to me during her final hours and I am still emotional about it.

This was her last litter.

My sweet little girl a few months before she died.

Bud (a.k.a Budman), the oldest of my cat rescues, can't be seen until next Tuesday with a home visit.  The surgery if it's decided to take the risk, will be at the doctor's farm which is about 40 minutes from here. 

That's all I got.  I removed the side border flowers and will worry about them later.  It took quite a while!  I think the next step will be the figures and if they don't show well, I'll try two threads for the second half of the cross.  Thanks for your help, I appreciate it.

Hope your day went well.

**********************