Heather is the new rodent mitigation specialist. She has been here for quite a while. We have been unable to determine where she originated from. Unless or until we do, she can stay here to dissuade rodent incursion. She has been remarkably effective with her expertise. None of the formerly bothersome rodents have been observed since her arrival. The seedlings and small perennials that the rodents had been eating previously have incurred no subsequent damage.

This will take some getting accustomed to. I am not particularly familiar with kitties. I give her a can of food in the evening, with dry food available at other times. She has a sheltered bunk out in the nursery, but might want to come into the foyer when the weather gets frosty or rainy. If so, I may put a warming pad for kitties under her bunk, since it will be close to an electrical outlet. She does not seem to be too demanding yet, but I have no idea how kitties operate. She could get demanding later, and because she is a kitty, I can not argue with her.

She does not have much to say though. She meows when hungry. When petted, she makes that weirdly distinctive purring sound that kitties make, but mysteriously, without actually speaking. She was quite fond of Rhody before people could get close to her, and seemed to enjoy how he chewed her head, but now that people regularly pet her, she avoids Rhody, and actually hisses at him if he wants to chew her head. She could not tell us what her name is, so, after some minor deliberation, we named her Heather.

We do not know exactly how long Heather has been here, but after her arrival and prior to her socialization, we noticed that the tip of her tail was kinked. As she became socialized and pettable, we noticed that the tip of her tail beyond the kink seemed to be necrotic, and felt like an old fashioned rabbit’s foot keychain. A few days later, the kinked tip was no longer a concern.