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The Menagerie & More
This section has nothing to do with iris, but I've added it
because garden visitors have so often asked about the animals they've met and
the things we've done to create a garden out of the desert. Do
we spoil our animals? Well.... our vet once cracked that in his next
life he was planned to come back as one of our pets.
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Our Adventures |
For those of you who wonder what I mean by "we".
Over 30 years ago, Lil & I bought this acreage and moved both of our
mobile homes onto it. It didn't even have a fence post
standing. We had to hire a well-driller and have a septic tank
installed, but otherwise did everything ourselves. Whatever you may have heard about our do-it-yourself
approach is probably true, and these photos prove it. The
"Third Musketeer" was my mother, who had her own house in town
after she retired, but handled a lot of the correspondence in the days of our commercial
garden. This has turned out to be the ideal combination of freedom,
independence, and an extra set of hands within hailing
distance. Fortunately, our respective pets got along well. |
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Rabbit |
Yes, that was her name. Started out as a house-rabbit,
litter-box trained. In NM summers, however, a mobile home is too hot
for a pet to be left alone so she got a specially-designed hutch in the
shade. Her sleeping area was prepared for the winter with carpet
& heat cable. Electric light for extra heat on cold nights and
provisions for a tarp to hold in the heat in the winter. She had a breezeway with
a float-filled water pan as well as food pan. The main section had a
standard mesh floor, but it was removable so that she could nibble grass
in the evenings before coming into the house for her TV time.
She loved her bubble baths -- so much that one evening I started running
my own bath water, added my bath oil, left to answer the phone, and
returned to find an oil-soaked rabbit in the tub. Needless to
say, a major clean-up job came before I that relaxing bath I'd been
looking forward to. |
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Zube |
"Zube" for exuberant. Also known as
"Little Ugly Dog" because he was such a pathetic looking little
thing when he was dumped off. The vet speculated that he was part
cocker spaniel, but his legs were so short and his ears so long that the
tips usually brushed the dirt. At least he knew who to
befriend. In spite of his small size, he was absolutely fearless and
the "enforcer" of the mobile home park. One night, some of
the other dogs had trapped a cat on top of a fence post. He charged
past the post, barking fiercely, and thus drew the other dogs away so the
cat could escape. Later, a family that was moving away took their
cat and kittens to the arroyo and shot the mother cat but some of the
kittens managed to hide. Zube rescued them. It took a very
long time for them to trust humans again, but they sure trusted Zube. |
| Frederick, the First |
Widely known as "Fred", this St. Bernard became
the self-appointed mascot of the Mesilla Valley Iris Society and thus the
subject of many stories. The original "go-baby".
Also known as "His Majesty". Got into trouble as a puppy
when he thought my camera was a chew-toy, but quickly developed the habit
of striking a noble pose at the appearance of a camera so I have few
candid shots. Most memorable moment -- the day we were visiting MVIS
friends and their neighbor was bo busy looking at Fred that he missed his
own driveway and knocked down his fence. |
| Stubby |
The Corgi whose family just moved off and left him
behind. Smart dog, he knew which neighbor to befriend and earned his
place in the household with his skills at rodent control.
Self-appointed guard dog, he must have figured that anything he started
Fred could finish. |
| Kidder |
The first deliberately-acquired cat. Stubby was
getting up in years and needed an assistant. People-shy, so few
remember Kidder. The trio were known as "the mighty
hunters". Stubby was the leader, Fred had the strength to move
anything a varmint might try to hide under, and Kidder had the speed to
catch it. In fact, Kidder would pounce on anything that
moved. One of the more humorous sights was Fred lifting his head up
out of the weeds, with a look of disgust on his face and Kidder clinging
to his nose. Unfortunately, it always happened so fast that I
didn't capture it on film. |
| Fuzzer |
Blue-eyed, white fur-like coat instead of typical cat
hair. Deaf, but absolutely fearless. Favorite place to sleep was on top
of Fred. With a 200+ pound bodyguard, who wouldn't be fearless? |
| Casper |
"The Friendly Ghost". A Fuzzer look-alike
who turned up as a stray at NMSU. Unclaimed, so we adopted him. |
| Susiana, the First |
Aka "Suze" or "Susie". The first
Great Pyrenees, remembered by many for her skills as the Garden
Hostess. She recognized those who had visited even once and would
escort them to the garden. Unfortunately, she was camera-shy. |
| Frederick, the Second |
As the first "Fred" was so widely known, I
expected people to call another St. Bernard on the place "Fred"
and decided it would be less confusing to the puppy to just name him after
his predecessor. |
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Chubby |
The Pekingese. Actually my mother's dog. He did
not live up to the breed's lapdog reputation but loved his time in the
garden -- especially playing chase-me-chase-you with Lucky. If dogs
are reincarnated, he was Frederick the First. Another Go-Baby &
Camera-Hog. Mother's house in town had glass storm doors, which gave
him a clear view of the outside. In the new house, he'd bark to be
picked up so he could see out the window. Didn't take me long to
make him an observation platform from which he could watch the cottontails
& quail. |
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Lucky |
What would you name a black cat? His vet
nicknamed him the "Grizzled Old Warrior" and that stuck. I
even named an iris after him. Not camera-shy, but not photogenic
either so most of his pictures show only a black blob. Here, he's
claimed the tractor seat for a napping place. A very independent
sort, he tended to make himself scarce when garden visitors were around --
but the few who had the privilege of knowing him have found him
unforgettable. He was still a kitten in our first bloom season
together, so I carried him and my hybridizing kit from clump to clump to
teach him respect for the iris. For the rest of his life, if he saw
me in the garden he'd come to be picked up. |
| Susiana, the Second |
Same story, regarding her name. How could we name a
look-alike anything else? Long story about how
we found her. Susiana, the First was suffering from bone cancer and
rapidly failing, so we had decided that we should not saddle her with
another puppy to train. But Lil was traveling as a consultant back
then and one of her colleagues spotted an ad for Great Pyrenees
puppies. They decided to check it out -- over winding,
snow-covered, mountain roads. Lil fell in love with this puppy with
"badger" markings. So much like Susiana, the First.
Lil called to alert me that she was bringing home a puppy. It was
the right thing to do, because as soon as the first Suze saw that puppy
she relaxed & retired. She really wanted that puppy, but didn't
want it near her -- so I spent two weeks sitting with them, puppy on my lap. |
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Spook
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Lil found her huddled at the front gate the morning after
Halloween. Her black and orange markings made us think someone was
playing a cruel prank, so we tried to find her owners. No
luck. Only Suze claimed her -- and when
a Great Pyrenees says "this one is a keeper", you keep it.
Spook is a great watch-dog, a loving companion, and a great
substitute for a garbage disposal. Unfortunately, she's very
camera-shy. |
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Cinco de Meow |
One morning, Suze II persistently tried to draw attention
to the lumber bin. Her focus turned out to be a small kitten.
"Please, Mama, can we keep it? Please, please, PLEASE!"
Spook concurred. Even Lucky approved. By then, his health was
failing and he was more than ready to retire. How could a mere human
resist? The kitten was so skittish with people that it took weeks to
get close enough to know whether Cinco was "he" or
"she", but with the support and encouragement of the senior
members of the menagerie she's come to enjoy being cuddled on a cold
morning. The ringing of a cell phone is definitely a cat-caller and
her signal for lap-time. |
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The Wildlife
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Tame cottontails. Quail. Doves. |
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