Naughteeis Speaks: part 1 about Zen Living in Paradise, Cats and Raccoons

Naughteeis Speaks: about Zen Living, Cats, and Raccoons.

Having lived most of my life in the fast lane, two marriages, six or seven live ins, and who the hell knows how many monthly, weekly or one night stands, combined with a hellish post divorce situation with children, I decided a recluse in seclusion was what I needed for retirement. I mean like how much pain, suffering, misery and betrayal and disappointment does one man deserve? I worked hard all my life and now I don't. It took me many years to find this special place. Often when I share photos of here, some people say bullshit Wes that's a painting. No it's for real, and yes it does look like a picture postcard with a million dollar view. I live on the river in the mountains, in Central Oregon about 80 miles from the coast and have only one neighbor within sight. It doesn't snow here every year and it rarely gets below freezing in the winter, maybe 20 days in the winter. But it does rain a lot, you have to be a duck to get along in the winter here. In the summer I can watch Steel-head spawn in the sandbar from my backyard. I'm a native Californian born and raised in a career military family. Most military brats are well traveled, I was in and out of California and back again four times while I was growing up, I moved seven times the first seven years of my life, when my dad would come home I sometimes wondered who the hell that stranger was, that's just what it is, so I learned to like traveling and not planting roots for too long in one place. When I moved here to Oregon the next-door neighbor had three cats and a wiener dog. Over time two of the three cats decided they would prefer to live with me. (smiling) I grew up with dogs I never knew anybody who had cats and never really liked them or understood them at all. When the neighbors would go away on trips I would feed the cats so over time the cats knew who would feed them and protect them. For those of you who live in the city and don't know it, country cats don't have litter boxes and live pretty much independent lives to some degree with their hunting and country ways. Earl the male yellow tabby he lived to be about 17 years old, and was born in my bedroom closet. Earl was the smartest cat I have ever known. These names I gave them, Earl was the most friendly and immediately took to me when I moved here. Berry was a black and white male really stand-offish and didn't have much to do with me for a couple of years even though I fed them all often. Now we are down to one of the three are left. Berry got ran over at age 10 last summer when they were resurfacing the highway that runs in front of here. The way the two of the three cats decided to come live with me was because of the neighbors son going to Iraq for a year and he had a Husky Dog that needed to be cared for while he was gone. The Husky Dog came to live with the neighbors for a year and two of the three cats said bullshit I'm out of here. So after a year of living with me they just stayed on with me. lol even after the big dog left. (smiling) Now there is only one cat and I still fed her when they travel and are away. We have lots of wild animals around here, some of them are Raccoons. If you don't know it Raccoons are assholes and are not nice. They cause problems eating stuff out of my garden and eating the cats food too. I don't care about them eating out of the garden they don't eat that much, but the cat food box they turn over and open up and eat all of it, so I often have to go buy more because they are pigs. They come raid the cats food that I put out for Littleface and tear up stuff trying to get at the cat-food box that is left outside for me to feed the cat. I always fed Earl and Berry inside my house. The Coons are assholes and will hiss at you if you come up on them when they get scared. The first time the Coons hissed at me I was in the backyard in the garden in my underwear and no t-shirt or shoes, that's how I roll around here in the summer. I just said okay and started heading for my back porch (smiling) I'm currently feeding Littleface for ten days we are on the third day and the circus has already begun. The Coons moved the closed container six feet, knocked it off the porch and opened it and ate over half the container, I think? I'm not for sure if it was the Coons or Littleface having a fit because I don't come feed her until midday and she doesn't get wet food while the neighbors are gone, so maybe she had a little temper thing and did it. (smiling) I put the food-box in with the fire log box today and put a bunch of logs on top of the container. We will see whats up with that in the morning..

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