All about the animals

A new experience….hummingbirds with metallic blue breasts!  And there are SO many of them.  It’s no wonder with all the beautiful flowering bushes on the property.  If this were my place I’d definitely name it Casa Colibri (spanish for hummingbird house)

The first few days were interesting for Heffay.  The owners are animal lovers and have three dogs and two cats (plus a chicken).  They allow and even encourage all animals to be off leash.  Of course, their three dogs have free reign of the yard, it is their yard after all.  They mostly just stay on the covered wrap-around veranda.  

They’re all medium sized dogs but all together they pack a big loud bark (and they bark a lot).  Heffay isn’t used to that kind of stimulation.  It was quite a sight to see….this huge rottweiler who probably weighs the same as all three dogs combined, cowering on the top step of the RV.  He just didn’t know what to do about the situation and preferred to go inside away from those loud, barking and strange dogs. 

 Of course, within a day or two he had adapted and basically learned to just keep his distance.  It wasn’t long though before we made the decision to keep him tied up.  There are numerous reasons, a big one being his size and his predisposition to greet people by leaning into them and then promptly rolling over on his back.  That is if he likes you…aka you aren’t Mexican.  If he likes you his greeting is “sweet” unless you aren’t ready for it, or if you’re an older person who can’t handle that kind of weight leaning against your older knees!  And if your Mexican…well lets just say his “greeting” will have you running the other direction.  Anyone who’s ever heard a big dog’s “get away from here” bark will know what I mean.

There is another reason he’s tied up in a “off leash friendly yard”.  Remember the chicken I mentioned above?  Well she’s just out on a short leash in the open yard and well….Heffay figures she’d be quite a nice meal 😳 Yep, I tried to introduce him to her while he was on leash.  The result….a big NO.  On day 2 of being here he wandered over to her small yard.  Before he could get to her, we figure she broke her small chain and flew off. Thankfully she returned but not before giving us a few hours wondering if the owners were going to ask us to leave!  Lucky for us, they were very understanding and simply responded “she’s got out before, don’t worry she’ll come back”.  We were very happy that they were right.  She returned a few hours later. 

As sweet as Heffay is, he’s got quite a high prey drive.  So, no “free roaming” the property for him, at least when the chicken is out and about and not closed into her coop.  And even with the chicken locked in her coop, we don’t let him roam free.  He has a tendency to chase cats…he really doesn’t realize how big he is.  At home he and HoseHey play “tag” in the yard and he thinks all cats want to do that.  Not so much, ha ha!  

Hunt a chicken?  Who sweet little me? 

Heffay wasn’t the only one who was scared at first.  As mentioned in my last post our little guy Gizmo was also pretty freaked out by all the sounds, road noise and barking dogs at first.  Moving one site over from the road made a big difference.  At first we tried putting him in the cat tent, but I think he felt too trapped in there.  Dan convinced me to let him out and see how that worked.  Well, it worked wonderfully.  He’s much more relaxed, I think because he knows he can run away from any noise or perceived danger.  That said, he never runs too far.  He stays by the RV.  We only ever let him out when we’re out though.  

Gizmo - living the life! 
I just love his little white goatie.  

Of course, HeyZeus is in heaven here.  We’re back to our twice daily walks…somewhat of a routine during our snowbird time in Mexico.  Thankfully his prey drive isn’t as high as Heffay’s which allows him to get quite close to “Ebony Smudge” the chicken.  He’ll sometimes creep up on her like he’s hunting her but has never actually charged at her.  

Ebony smudge is a special chicken.  The owner uses her to raise money for local animal rescuers through monthly “chicken poop bingo”.  Although not from the owner of the property here, I found a funny quick video explaining how it works for your entertainment.  They describe it much better than I could 😂

HeyZeus with Ebony Smudge in the background

He visits her every morning and every evening.
  I swear she seems to like it…no clucking from her or anything

Taking a rest on top of the truck.  
A good spot to survey the property  🫢 

Speaking of Ebony Smudge, there was one evening when she was loose in the yard, tied only to small rock that she could easily drag along with her.  I didn’t know the owner had let her out and when I went to take Heffay for a walk around the property all hell broke loose!  She was behind some hedges where I didn’t see her.  Of course, Heffay saw her and he went after her.  I’ve never seen so many feathers fly…literally!  I thought for sure he had chomped on her and my heart sunk.  Thankfully he was on leash and I was able to pull him off.  The owners were out for dinner but the upstairs apartment neighbour was home and he came to help me out.  He picked up Ebony and inspected her for damage.  I was sure there would be blood, but nope…not a scratch on her.  Heffay had managed to grab her tail feathers only…pulling them ALL out.  Feathers were EVERYWHERE!  But, she was ok. 

I can tell you, I wasn’t looking forward to talking to the owners once they returned from dinner.   “Hi…so my dog almost killed the chicken…again!”😳 Thankfully the owners were again very gracious.  He actually apologized for leaving her out like that and not letting me know.  Phew! That said, Dan was still convinced we were going to be asked to leave because of Heffay. Two incidents in such a short time.  He was so convinced that we even started to scope out different RV spots as a backup.  

Before (left) and After (right)
= A not so Happy chicken
OR 
= A chicken that’s happy to still be alive! 😋

By the end of the first week in our new spot, everyone had settled in.  Gizmo wasn’t hiding in his safe spot anymore.  He happily joined his brother hanging out with us on the bed again.

The boys in their happy place 

Gizmo and Heffay relaxing on our pad

Now that we’ve been here a couple months, Gizmo has become very brave.  The 1 acre yard is completely fenced and when I take HeyZeus for his daily walks throughout the property Gizmo now follows us 🥰 Of course, if he hears a loud noise or if the owners dogs come out barking he’ll bolt back to the RV for the protection of dad, but otherwise he’s happy as can be.  He too likes to visit the chicken.  I watch him with a huge smile on my face as he stalks the chicken in slow motion.  Then, as soon as she turns around and looks at him he bounces up and changes direction.  In my head I can hear him saying “I wasn’t doin nuthin”.  He’s such a happy cat, along with his brother HZ. 

The boys visit the chicken everyday.  I think she likes it!  
No clucking or fuss…she just walks around with them.

Gizmo surveying the chicken’s yard.  
He also loves to rub up and scratch on the trunk of this orange tree.

Such a brave boy, all the way on the other side of the property.
He’s looking back toward the house, checking to see if the dogs are about to come out

This property is fantastic for walking the boys.  I definitely wouldn’t be comfortable walking HZ on the roads outside the property with all the loose dogs. Some are friendly but most are quite aggressive and territorial.  I’m sure they’d charge if they saw me walking a cat.

“Hi mom, whatcha doin?”

All the cats love to lie down in the bed of fallen blooms under this row of bougainvilleas.
The “playground” bully HeyZeus isn’t allowed though 😉 

HeyZeus loves his walks, but he has decided he should be the alpha male of the property.  The owners have two cats Tommy Boy and Miss Kitty.  Tommy is a big grey tabby while Miss Kitty is an old girl with black and white colouring.  The upstairs apartment neighbours also have a cat named Smokey.  All these cats are out and about on the property at any given time.  HeyZeus’ main focus for his walks is finding the other cats.  Unfortunately, he’s not a nice boy….he stalks and charges at them.  I figure he likes the property as much as we do and he’s trying to make it known it’s his…not theirs.  Tommy Boy is a Mexican cat, you can see that he’s a tough guy but also a big sweetie.  He often terrorizes the apartment neighbours cat but when he sees HeyZeus he bolts into the house.  I guess HZ has left an impression…he does have quite a voice so along with stalking him he howls and yells whenever I let him get close to Tommy.  On one occasion Tommy came around a corner and surprised me, HZ saw him instantly and pounced…the fur was flying!  And, once again Dan flagged …”we better find a backup place to stay” 😛.  I was able to pull HZ off before any damage was done.  As he’s made it known he’s not interested in making friends with the other cats, I do my best to steer him clear of them while we’re out on our walks. 

The owner frequently asks me “you don’t think he’ll be ok off leash”?  Absolutely not!  Dan suggested we try one day and as soon as he was “free” he bolted from me, determined to get as far as he could.  He’s just too curious and adventurous.  He’s even shown me how easy it is for him to scale the 6 foot fence.  He climbs it with no problem at all.  Of course, each time he’s tried that he’s been on leash so I’ve gotten him down.  Although I’m sure he would know where we are, returning safely would be questionable.  There are many loose street dogs, cactus and of course people who are very keen to “see” this beautiful unique cat.  There are many posts on the local Facebook groups of people whose cats have gone “missing” and many of them are the more exotic looking types of cats.  Absolutely not worth the risk and stress.  He has more than enough to explore throughout this enormous yard and I’m happy to take him on regular supervised walks. 

HeyZeus watching Miss Kitty from the other side of a short stone wall.  
She has no interest in him, she can see that look in his eyes!

The property is located in the “Ranchitos” section of San Carlos and backs up to some beautiful hills and hiking trails.  Heffay and I have started taking short hikes in the afternoon as the sun starts to set.  It’s a peaceful and beautiful place to walk.  Much more peaceful than walking along the residential area.  I laugh because Dan always knows when I’m on my way back by the increasing volume of dogs barking as we walk by each property.  Pretty much everyone here has at least 2 dogs and they are ALL very protective of their properties.  There are a few loose dogs too, which always make me a bit nervous but when I see them I try and walk the opposite direction.  With Heffay so big, these smaller dogs often feel the need to assert their dominance and although he’s quite docile, I know if they were to charge he’d cause some definite damage.  

A good shot to show you the terrain north of the Ranchitos

Up the hills we go

Now that’s one happy dog! 💗 

Such a beautiful dog inside and out
And bonus, the moon high in the sky!

On our last walk he picked up some cactus spurs 😢 I have no idea where they came from, I keep him on leash so that I can keep him on the dirt road as much as possible.  He does veer off the path but only when I ensure there are no hazards.  I’ve heard of jumping cactus, so maybe that’s what these were.  They were about the size of a gobstopper and they landed on the top of his paw.  Thankfully, at the time it happened I had just passed another person walking his dogs.  He stopped to help me.  While I held Heffay’s paw he took two stones and used them to pull off the spiked cactus spurs.  There’s no way I could have done that on my own with the way Heffay was moving around.  Lesson learned, now I carry tweezers with me.  Heffay was really good all considering, he was uncomfortable but he knew we were going to help him so he relaxed and let us do it.  

Now that we’ve been here two months, everyone is nicely settled into their new surroundings and our daily routines. It really is the perfect place for pets.  We love to see the furry beasts so happy 💕 

No caption needed 🥰