Critters on Parade

A quick critter update before I move to other things...Last week Lisa pointed out to me that Buster had been climbing the door jambs and clawing the living crap out of them. But the little guy really doesn't have anyplace to sharpen his claws or climb, so I made a decision: buy a cat tree. I had been eyeing one at the local planet-friendly pet shop, but I thought it was a bit expensive, though very well made of completely recycled materials. However, it was a lot less expensive then replacing our door jambs periodically. So I walked to the shop (Green Dog, a great place) with our luggage cart, and toted the thing home. Cookie took to it immediately:


However, Buster was initially frightened by it, reacting as if it was some giant, unmoving, golem-like creature brooding by the front window. However, after a little while he worked up his nerve and investigated it. Of course, now it's his favorite place:


In other critter news, I let Buddy in the back yard a couple hours ago for an early-evening pee-break. Suddenly, he started barking like mad -- and not his usual "pinging the neighborhood" bark to see if any other dogs were out, but rather a frantic "there's something back here!" bark. So I went out and behold! An opossum on the fence! Lisa managed to take a picture of the little guy:

Finally, after much yelling at Buddy to calm down, we all went back inside and let the poor critter continue on his way.