Interesting neighbors

We were at the house last week and heard some odd noises coming from next door.  The neighbors now have 4 chickens pecking around their back yard!  It amused us because these are the same neighbors who filed a complaint over our TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) of some of the neighborhood feline population because the cats "buried poop in their yard which their 9 year old boy would dig up".  I wonder what changed that their now 10 year old boy doesn't pick up chicken poop that is not even buried?  LOL

Autumn roll-up

It has been a while since I last posted so here is some of what has happened.

Portholes - With the close of summer came cooler weather and we could finally live without air conditioning long enough to mount the portholes in the stern.  Julio, our favorite intrepid boat worker, came through for us again.  Of course nothing is ever simple on a boat and in this case the problem was the compound curve of the transom.  Julio made a template then overnight made perfectly curved teak mounting shim plates that gave the portholes flat mounting surfaces but followed the curve of the transom for the sealing faces.  All 6 portholes in the rear half of the boat have now been replaced.  All that is left are a measly 10 ones forward.

Hatch - We sold the too-heavy-for-us RBI dinghy that came with the Morgan and replaced it with the Avon R3.1 slatted-floor roll-up model from our old Horizon.  The newly exposed foredeck was nice but the first rain storm we found the old dinghy had been covering a badly warped and leaky plastic hatch in the main salon.  I was lucky and found a perfectly sized Bomar cast aluminum hatch at Don's Marine Salvage for a surprisingly good price.  Bedding the new hatch in place stopped all leaks from the cabin top.

Rose goes swimming - One evening in October we were sitting in the cockpit, sipping sangria and listening to a Martina McBride concert in the marina park when our black cat Rose decided to join us.  Rose has been out a few times but always before with harness and tether.  This time she slipped out of the cabin under the screen, then her feral switch must have tripped because she decided to make a break for freedom.  She ran down the side deck, realized the deck stopped before reaching the dock, then launched herself towards the boat next door.  She flew about half way across before landing kerplop in the cold water.  There was about a second of stunned silence followed by a cacophony of splashing and caterwauling.  She splashed her way under the swim platform of our neighbor's boat where she wedged herself on a support strut half in and half out of the water.  I got a net under her but couldn't reach far enough back to unhook her from her perch.  By this time our dock mates had mobilized and within minutes Chuck had peeled her loose and pulled her out, and we got her wrapped in a towel.

Windlass - Horizon came with a Quick electric windlass sized for combo 5/16 rope/chain anchor rode, good for little more than a lunch hook.  For cruising I wanted the security of all chain rode and after lots of research settled on the Lighthouse 1501 electric windlass for its size, power, and manual backup options.  It arrived three weeks after ordering it and my hunt for chain turned up 200' of 3/8" Acco HT (G4) chain locally at Standard Marine Supply in Tampa.  We expect to have the system installed by the New Year.

Ham/Marine SSB Communications - At this month's St. Pete Boat Show the first booth we visited was Sea-Tech.  They have a really complete communications/weather fax/email package with an Icom 802 HF radio, antenna tuner, Pactor modem, and all the incidentals to install the rig.  That package has been on the "to buy" list for a while so we went ahead and ordered it.  All the parts arrived within a week so it is now on the "to install" list.

Slot head screws [Rant] - In trying to replace a broken stanchion bolt then trying to mount the thru-hull fitting for the new radio antenna lead, I found my usual sources of stainless steel pan slotted head bolts now only carried Phillips head.  When asked, I was told that they stopped making slotted head because everyone wanted Phillips.  For deck hardware there is no substitute for slotted heads.  Salt water has to be able to flow out of a fastener head and not pool since salt water rusts even stainless steel.  I finally found and ordered an assortment of bolts from what may be the last supply of SS slotted head bolts at Jamestown Distributors. 

Marriage - Our big event was October 29th on the beach in Key West.  Of course we did it for the children; Rose and Ollie cat-nap more soundly knowing they are legitimate.  Our family is now unofficially known as the McHop clan.

Bon Voyage Horizon - Our old Horizon was sold again and is now sailing her way toward the eastern Caribbean and new adventures.

Attack of the crab traps - Our first time out in quite a while ended almost immediately.  We had just cleared the breakwater and were raising sail when suddenly there arose such a clatter (see my holiday spirit?) from the stern.  The entry to the marina is densely filled with lines of crab trap floats.  We managed to hit one exactly right so the prop caught the line and started winding it around and around and around...  Being the right pirate, I gripped my trusty butter knife between my teeth and started down the swim ladder, but the moment my solar plexus hit the 64 degree water I knew it was just not going to work.  We had no damage except the prop shaft collar zinc, but we did have to get a tow then overnight at the pumpout dock until a diver could cut the whole mess loose the next morning.  Sadly we forgot to check the trap for a crab feast but a 12v hookah and full wet suit have now moved to the top our "to buy" list.

The Horizon clan is officially living aboard.

As of Sunday, the human and feline components of the Horizon clan are now united aboard. Like our attempt a week before, the move was not without tribulations.  It involved variously: a not too comfortable mid-afternoon nap wearing a long sleeve jacket and kitchen gloves (to mitigate the blood loss problem of the prior week), getting a small wire mesh dog crate/cage, and scattering lots of towels and blankets around the house to be able to swoop Ollie up easily wherever he decided to perch.

In the end the nap didn't help draw him out from hiding and the towels were not needed.  After the prior weekend, Ollie had come to associate being drugged with impending skinning so to get him to appear at all we had to leave him alert.  We set up the cage in the living room and randomly tossed cat treats into it.  Ollie, too savvy to use the cage door, would reach a paw through the bars to snatch up treats Rose missed.  But eventually there was one he couldn't quite reach and as he slid in to get it Cate managed to latch the cage door behind him.  Some quick sprays of feline pheromone spray and his yowls subsided.  We quickly scooped up Rose and our gear and started them off to their new home.

Within minutes of arrival Rose was carefully exploring every inch of her new home.  Ollie played osterich with his face buried but his body in plain view for the rest of that day.  The last couple nights though they have used the hall as a drag strip so we think they are getting acclimated although Ollie does still burrow behind salon cushions whenever there is an odd sound.  Also, just like Ginger before, they love watching the marina life beyond the portholes at bed level in the stateroom.

Cat Scratch Fever?

We are really close to the final move onto Horizon.  This weekend we gathered together most all our clothes and sundry from condo and house, then went to corral the cats for the trip to their new home.  Ollie has never lost his feral switch so on Saturday morning we dosed him with Quiet Moments calming aid for cats.  An hour later he was about as relaxed as I have ever seen him so I picked him up and had him within inches of the carrier before he realized what was happening and went into "they are skinning me" mode.  He dug in his claws and spurted out then hid for the rest of the weekend.  I expect my wounds will heal in a few weeks :(

We went ahead and continued to spend our nights on Horizon but stop at the house to visit the feline part of our family at least once a day.  Rosie, always open to anything, plays around and jumps in and out of the carriers and generally shows us she would rather be around her humans 24/7.  But even today, 2 days after his scare, Ollie ran and hid when he heard my voice and no amount of coaxing lured him out.  We thought about just bringing Rosie with us until we can figure out what to do with Ollie but they have been together since kitten-hood and we worry what he would do if left for periods with no companionship.  For now we will try to figure out how to get them both to their new home.

On another front, we decided the original propane stove with no automatic thermocouple gas shut-off was just too much of a safety risk so we ordered a new Force 10 3-burner stove.  We did finally get that mounted, but not without a great deal of contemplation and head scratching.  Of course everyone knows that no boat project is ever simple.  We first found that try as we might, the new stove just would not fit through the companionway to the galley and main salon.  And, while it would fit through the aft companionway, the walk-thru to the main salon was too narrow.  After hours of careful measuring and judicial dismantling I found we could get it into the main salon through the walk-thru if we:

1. Took off some teak molding

2. Removed the door to the aft stateroom

3. Removed the cover of the electrical panel

4. Removed the door to the upright refrigerator

5. Removed all unwelded/pop riveted pieces from the new stove

After all that, Eoin and I managed to get it into the main salon for reassembly.  Of course the new stove had different mounting locations from the old stove so the mounts were moved to where we thought they should be, but when we tried to drop the stove into the mounts it would not seat - the gimbal pins on the new stove were slightly larger than the old ones.  Measured some more and used the mounting plates that came with the new stove and viola, it was mounted!  The next morning Cate fixed a fantastic biscuits and SOS breakfast on it.  We still have to do some woodwork on the hinged cabinet cover to let the new stove gimbal fully but for now it is very useable and nicely shiny.

Ginger aka Green Eyes 1995?-2011

Our hospital cat, the one neighbors left in a box on our front yard last November, has passed away.  We don't know her birth year but the vets told us she was 15-18 years old.  When we got her, Ginger was diagnosed with many problems but the biggest were severe (6 of 6) Arrhythmia, and kidney failure.

For the past five months she has thrived and had been gaining weight.  But about a week ago she stopped eating despite being plied with all kinds of fancy cat and human foods though she continued to look happy and still purred contentedly around her adoptive litter mates.

Friday she went with us for a weekend on Horizon and she loved it.  The aft stateroom was perfect for her - the port holes on the stern are inches above the berth and she spent the nights peering out at the water and all the goings on around us.

She was failing rapidly though and yesterday exhibited labored breathing.  Today we made the difficult decision to prevent her further distress and had the vet send her on her final journey.

Ginger had endeared herself to us and will be missed greatly.

ACT's Facebook photos of Ginger

Community minded criminals

In November 2009 our 18 year old cat died and we had to replace her.  We were considering pet adoption when we realized how huge the feral cat population was in our neighborhood and looked into a community friendly approach of Trap, Neuter and Return.  TNR humanely reduces the feral population over time at a cost of only about $25 per cat.  So far as we know we are the only ones in our neighborhood interested in actively controlling the feral cat population. Now we can see why, but I get ahead of myself.

In December 2009 a feral cat had a litter of kittens somewhere in our yard and over the New Year's break we put our plan in operation.  That first time we trapped momma and 4 kittens; we had them all neutered at Animal Coalition of Tampa, adopted 2 kittens for ourselves then released the rest.  We started leaving some food out for those cats.

Over the next year we continued to feed the neutered cats and what strays came around looking for handouts.  When the current problem started we were ready to do another TNR, hoping to catch at least 5.

In November 2010 an older, maybe 15 year old, cat was left in a cardboard box in our front yard with the inscription: "We know you like cats and hope you can help this one".  We took in that cat, our third pet, and she became the abused cat of the month on ACT's web site due to extreme malnourishment with attendant heart and renal problems.  Vets have now seen her several more times and under our care she is now looking much more healthy and happy.

On February 22, 2011 we received a notice of suspected violation that stated in part: "we have been informed that your pets are roaming loose in a neighbor's yard.  If these are your pets you must confine them.  If these are not your pets please ignore this notice and you do not need to contact us."

We verified that our 3 pets had not clawed through a screen and were still inside our house then complied with the instructions and ignored the notice. We did not realize that Hillsborough County now considered all neighborhood cats to be our pets.

On Friday February 25 we were talking to our neighbor when she brought up the feral cats and said "cats are burying poop in my yard".  We asked what she expected us to do about that and she replied "stop feeding your pets". We told her "our pets" were securely locked inside our house and reminded her that the cats in all of our yards were feral neighborhood cats that had been there long before we moved in.  We tried to reason that with our TNR efforts, the huge local feral cat population would decrease over time and everyone would benefit.  That reply made her more irate and she started screaming that "she would make us sorry" and "this will get ugly".  We disengaged and went inside our house to ponder the problem - her screaming continued for quite a while.

The next day we decided the neighborly thing would be to move feeding from our back porch to a station we erected on the side of our house away from her.  We tried that for two days but each night raccoons destroyed the feeder so we gave up.  At that point we really didn't want to risk antagonizing our volatile neighbor further so by February 28 we had stopped leaving any food outdoors but left the feeder enclosure as a shelter.

On Tuesday March 1 Animal Control Officer Luis Garcia came to the house.  We talked for quite a while and I told him about the cats we had neutered and how huge the local feral cat colony was and that we were going to do another TNR.  At that point I still did not realize that it was illegal for us to do that.  That was when Mr. Garcia informed me that under the Hillsborough County statutes, having a feral cat neutered makes that animal a legal pet of the person who has it done.  Mr. Garcia said he had not expected to come into contact with people working to help control the exploding feral population and said he could see we were actively working to help his agency with the feral problem.  Mr. Garcia gave me his business card and told me he would talk to his supervisor and to expect a call that afternoon or the next day.

Late the next afternoon I had not heard anything so I called the number on his card and gave my case number.  The officer who answered iterated that by neutering or even feeding them, those cats became my pets.  Pets are not allowed to roam free so she said we would be fined $240 per pet and that the officer saw many, I think she said 10, cats in ours and adjacent yards.

She suggested there were only two courses of action available:

1. We could trap and hand over to Animal Control all cats from the neighborhood but, with adoption rates so low, we would effectively be handing them over for euthanasia.

2. We could erect a fence around our yard to corral all the neighborhood cats but that fence had to be high enough to keep them from getting out and roaming the neighborhood.

Not liking either of those options I asked what would happen if we paid the fine as a "my bad for not doing diligent research on legal ramifications"? She replied they would happily take my payment but they would still periodically recheck and if any cats were seen roaming free in our or adjacent yards, those cats would be assumed to be ours and we would be fined again.

I am an easy touch and have often donated food and money and invented "make work" projects for those in need, never once worrying that altruistic actions would expose me to litigation.  When the woman who made this complaint came to me last month to ask for a loan, I even gave her more than she asked for.  I am certainly not rich and I have no idea what exit strategy to take.  The 3 options the county is allowing me: killing all the neighborhood cats, taking them all into my home, or periodically paying thousands of dollars in fines, are unacceptable and impossible.  Is there no middle ground that would be inclusive of community friendly approaches?

Update 3/6:  In the week since we stopped leaving food out, the feral population that comes around our house has quickly dropped to almost zero.  The good news is that our neighborhood has lots of cat lovers and none of the ferals ever looked the least bit hungry even when we had been gone for several days :)  We have also not yet received a formal citation but it could arrive at any time.  Meanwhile we have had contact with the Hillsborough County Animal Services Director of Operations and the Humane Society of Tampa.  While wheels have been put in motion there is nothing concrete to report yet.

We realize we caused our own problem by not fully researching the TNR issue especially when it came to local regulations.  Any more you have to be a lawyer to just live.  While all learned reports show the advantages of TNR, none mention that in many parts of the country the practice is illegal.  Besides the obvious lack of new offspring, studies have shown that neutered feral cats have less tendency to fight or howl.  Also, nature abhors a vacuum so when a colony of cats is removed, another colony quickly fills the void.  In this case the neutered cats would be taken away and killed and a new set of fertile feral cats would take their place.  In our reading early on we relied on the local TNR web sites, not realizing that almost every one had disclaimers like "any inquiries are kept in strict confidence".  That should have been our cue to read between the lines.

More as the saga unfolds.

Cat House

The new cat house arrived this evening and us humans had lots of help assembling it.  Within minutes they were exploring top to bottom.  No one has tried the swing yet but the hammock has been initiated.

Another Milestone

Don't you love metrics?  LOL  Ever since Freedom Day, Oliver has remained aloof and has been virtually untouchable.  Rose, on the other hand, has been quite the attention hog and demands a fair amount of loving from her humans.  But maybe because she was the runt and had to do so much for herself, she has problems sharing.

Over the past few weeks Oliver has watched his sister getting all the good pets.  While his purrs start almost the same instant Rose's do, he always stays more than an arm's length away.  Any time he has unknowingly strayed too close and we do reach out to him, he scrambles away and hides.

Recently Oliver has been getting much closer to us, but he still runs when we try to consummate a feline-human connection.  When laying on the couch, for example, he has a few times tucked himself up behind a bent knee.  Well, he has until Rose sees him close to "her human" and runs him off.

Last night, though, they both climbed (clawed) in bed and Oliver actually butted his nose against my hand!  When he did it again I woke enough to realize what happened and slowly moved to brush my fingers against his back.  He stiffened for a second, then turned the purr machine on full and a moment later had tucked himself up under my chin!  We didn't stay that way very long before Rose came galloping around to run off the interloper, but it is a start.

Found 'em!

This evening we couldn't find the kittens.  Searched the house top to bottom and then again. Called their names but didn't hear a peep in return. So we went to the gym to give them a chance to consider life without the rest of their pack around.  After we got back Cate opened a drawer then started giggling.

The picture shows where they had been hiding, in a closed drawer in the night stand!  The little guys had crawled under the front edge then up between the drawers and the side to lay down in the top drawer.  Quite an impressive feat for the critters!

Kittens

(Last updated January 25, 2010)

Cate and I are cat people. The last cat I had was Pumpkin, an orange (obviously) DSH, who sailed from San Francisco to Tampa on Horizon. He went to what passes for kitty nautical heaven in 2004. Cate had a cat named Checkers, a calico DSH who was 17 years old and had helped Cate raise 3 kids. Checkers developed spinal problems and passed on in November 2009.

During Checker's final days, we noticed a feral cat with a litter of tiny kittens seemed to have adopted the back yard. Being suckers, we decided to help momma out and began leaving out food and water for her. Momma quickly got the hint and would come by several times a day with brood in tow to fill up her belly before nursing the little ones. Soon the kittens would help themselves to any food momma left. Momma is a small calico with bright green eyes, shy around humans but more than willing to share space so long as they stay at least 10 feet away. There are 5 kittens: 3 orange, a black runt, and a longer haired calico I called fluffy because her mane looked so much like a lion's.

The feral cat population in the neighborhood is huge. We decided to be proactive and catch momma cat and as many of her brood as we could and have them spay/neutered. The kittens looked so cute that we also decided we would try to adopt a couple of them.

Saturday January 2nd 2010 - We went to Animal Coalition of Tampa (ACT) and picked up four traps in the early morning. We baited the traps and set them out. Within an hour we had momma cat . . . but she was not happy . . . I think you could say she was spitting mad! We took her in and leaving her in the trap, gave her food and water. Over the next several hours we caught 2 big orange tom cats and a smaller female that looked to be someone's pet, but released them all because we had hopes of getting kittens.

By the end of the first day we had 3 kittens in two more traps. There were two orange kittens and the black runt. Oddly, the runt and one orange kitten were caught in the same trap! The only ones we had not caught were the last orange and my favorite, fluffy.

The next day we tried again but had no luck. Our house must have become known in cat circles as the death cat house and we did not even see a cat, let alone catch any.

Monday January 4th - We got the cats to ACT early in the morning and picked them up that afternoon. We decided to try to tame and keep the two kittens that were caught in the same trap. On the paperwork we named them Duff and Blathers after the two inept cops in the story Oliver Twist. After the vet kindly sexed them for us, we substituted new names; the black runt is now Rose and her orange companion is Oliver. We set up those kittens in the closet with a pet carrier for a lair, a litter box, and food and water bowls. Momma and the single orange kitten were left in their traps. The orange kitten soon acquired the name Boca, which means mouth in Spanish, because of his vocal demonstrations of resentment of captivity! How such a tiny body can generate such a huge warbling sound is impressive! The nice folks at ACT told us to keep the cats at least overnight before letting them loose to help them recover from surgery. A cold wave hit Florida about then so we decided to keep them for an extra night so they could heal more before facing the cold.

Wednesday January 6th - Momma cat and Boca were set free to make their way in the wilderness world of my back yard. Hey! We do have possums and raccoons 'round here! LOL

Within hours the remainder of the brood was once again establishing its presence in the back yard.  Even the two kittens that were uncaptured reappeared for their reunion with momma.  But none of them would come anywhere near the back porch for food we left for them.  We will see if they overcome their trepidation later.

Kittens week two

Tuesday January 12th - Momma cat and Boca have been free for 5 days and last night they finally returned to our porch for a hand-out!  It has been extremely cold and we figure momma needed some quality time to heal.  When they showed up, momma bellied up to the food bowl while Boca frolicked and rolled in the yard just outside.  They looked so cute!  Fluffy has also reappeared and has been supplementing her meals at our house for the past couple days.  We are debating keeping a trap for her (him?), but for now we are kind of overwhelmed by this wild game trapping experience.

Rose and Oliver are doing great!  Cate's son Eoin has recent experience in dealing with feral kittens so we are relying on him heavily.  He helped us set up a cage habitat for them in the living room where they can feel safe but can start to integrate with the indigenous human pack.

Last night Cate and I held the two kittens but carefully wrapped in towels.  Neither kitten seemed to mind a human finger rubbing the back of the neck so we feel better about the process.  We still want to just pick them up and hug and pet them, but it is too early in the taming process.  Oliver has begun to express himself a bit more vocally.  Rose is content to use him as the front kitten and seems purrfectly content to let him take the brunt of any attack while she sits behind and waits an opening.  Females can be sly :)

We intend to take the kittens out at least once each day but have to resist the urge for direct contact until we know they will be comfortable being petted.

More as we progress.

Kittens week three

Tuesday January 19th - We wanted to post some more pictures before we got too far along:

Rose, of course, is the black kitty.  Oliver has become a little more camera shy.

Then there is fluffy, the one that "got away" and missed the fun of being neutered!

We will probably let Rose and Oliver out of the cage this evening and see what happens.  Fingers and toes crossed!

We did get them out for a spin around the place.  Rose is going to be a real lap kitty I think.  I didn't use the towel this time, just reached in and plucked her out of the cage.  She seemed very content in my lap and her paws even started kneading slightly while I petted her.  I am still not sure if the purring was a content purr or stress purr. We have been told they sound the same but for me, the kneading makes me think she is happy.

Oliver, however, I kept in a towel while petting the back of his neck.  A couple minutes into it though he decided to bolt.  This time we didn't give chase, just let him hide behind the TV.  I put out some of the wet kitten food they love and a few minutes later he came creeping out to loot the treasure.  Shortly he decided to explore a little.  He started with the bathroom but within a minute we heard soft mews; he was in the tub and was too short to get out!  Rescued with a towel and that was it for his outside romp for the night.

Free at last!

Thursday January 21st - Rose and Oliver McHop are free to roam the house at will! We rearranged things and tried to kitten-proof as much as possible, closed all the bedroom doors then opened their cage door. About 10 minutes later a very timid but inquisitive Rose ventured out into their new realm and started exploring.  Oliver, still the shy one, waited quite a while before starting his own investigation.

It is now two days later and the two little fellas are still pretty squirelly.  When a door opens they head for the hills (under the nearest bed or behind the couch), but they soon reappear.

Rose has turned into a real attention hog.  She walks right up and turns on the purr machine and leaves no question that she wants a good petting!

 
Oliver remains a bit aloof.  He purrs quickly but is still very shy of being touched.  He also is the first to run away and the last to return.

This is still very early days but we think the new additions are going to work out just fine.

Hey!  I think someone here is getting a little too comfortable!

Actually, she has taken to sleeping with us at the foot of the bed. :)