What is there about the Bayou that makes people think they can just dump their unwanted animals here?? Granted it is a great place to live and I try to feed the poor critters but it does irk me that some people are so cruel that they just throw away their pets. Another cat has come begging for food. Which is fine. I am good with cats. They usually have a tendency to earn their keep. However, that is beyond the point. Stupid people do not need to get pets in the first place if they have no intentions of taking care of them for the long haul. No excuses. You have a pet...keep it for the lifetime of the animal. They are not for your entertainment then to be tossed the wayside at your whim. Forget it...there is no reasoning with some people as their frivolous wishes are far more important than the life of a critter. It does, indeed, irk me to no end.
The cat that lingers at the back door is not only hungry but hurt. Son and I have been trying for a week to coax it to us. We ply it with food and have tried everything in our power to befriend it. Being wounded has it very leery and we cannot get too near it. Short of trapping the poor thing, our hands are tied. It makes me sad. It irks me.
From what I can see, this one is an elderly cat with a front paw that seems to be broken. This does not bode well for the cat. Son has set the trap near where we feed it and will gradually move the food inside. Hopefully, we can get it to our vet before much longer. If it only knew we were trying to help instead of trying to maltreat it like the last people it trusted. People irk me...did I mention that?
Back in the day, I was taught never to waste anything. If something broke, you repaired it. If something was not longer needed as its original purpose, you made it into something else. You repaired, reused or repurposed everything. Items were saved because money was tight back on the farm. Nowadays, we live in a throwaway society. People cringe at the thought of reusing items or remaking items but that was not the norm years ago. Now, as garbage dumps are overflowing, folks have a toss it attitude even when things can still be used. I guess I still cannot break the train of thought that "Put it up. Some day, you made need that!" drilled into my head. To this day, waste is a pet peeve of mine. Use it until it is gone. Make it over to be useful again. Give it second life.
Critters on the Bayou are much the same. They make do. They use what they find. They do not waste. Just this afternoon, I noticed critters making use of something that others had tossed the wayside. The family of otters are great scavengers that will crack open and eat the mollusks that are embedded in the marsh. It only takes a second for them to crack the shell, fish out the tasty treat and go on to the next one. Once they drop the (almost) empty shell, others that cannot crack the shells, feast upon the remnants. I observed as a small crab was pulling the shreds of mollusk from the now opened shell. The little crab was a happy camper at his good fortune. He would not go hungry tonight! Once the crab had gotten his fill and buried down in the mud for a rest, a school of bull minnows raided the shell. The shell was flipped, turned, uprighted and twisted. Every tiny tidbit was being pulled from the mollusk shell. The minnows were in a feeding frenzy! Dozens of the wee fish fought over each and every scrap until the shell was pulled clean. Nothing was wasted. The shell sat empty. That empty shell, itself, will not go to waste. Algae will grow on the shell and Olive Nerites will harvest this as their food. Over time, the shell will slowly sink beneath the mud and give stability to the shoreline. The marsh grass will become better rooted because of the presence of the shells making erosion from tides and storms less likely. As the shell eventually deteriorates, calcium is returned into the soil. Nothing goes to waste.
If only people could follow the example set forth by Mother Nature, this world would be a far better place. There is no need to constantly replace what can be used again. Waste is a terrible thing. I think I will stick with the teaching of those long ago. Reuse, repurpose, repair or recycle. My critter friends are onto something good here.
I think sometimes folks are too eager to discard things. It was instilled in me long ago by family members that had gone through hard times that not making full use of items is wasteful. Back in better days, folks knew how to use everything to its fullest potential. Waste was considered a bad thing. It still is in my eyes. We are living in a "throwaway" society nowadays.
This discarding idea is fine (I guess) when it comes to material items but when living beings become disposable, it worries me. When I was taught that it was wasteful to discard usable items, I was also taught that you never mistreated a living being. Now, it seems to be the norm to discard pets whenever the mood strikes. Toss them out like trash...is the mentality of a lot of people who refuse to understand that critters have feelings, too. All of our furry family members have been what others have deemed as refuse. We have rescued more than our fair share of the critters and have cared for them in the best way we possibly could. At times, this was difficult financially and physically but we managed. Darling Daughter and her husband seem to have taken up the idea of caring for the unwanted. Elizabeth and Robbie have rescued at least eight "throwaway" pets in the past few years. Some, they have rehomed with loving families while four they have kept themselves.
A recent visit to their house brought joy to my heart. The pup, Sunny, that they had rescued a few years back, is doing well. This is the puppy that I fostered for them for a while. She is absolutely a charmer! Now, they have added Nox to their little family. Robbie and Elizabeth found Nox at their gate starving and weary. Without a second thought, they brought her inside, fed and bathed her. For weeks they tried to find Nox's missing family but no one was there. It was then that the realization came to them...THEY were her family. Nox has settled in well and is enjoying the good life now. How wasteful the previous family was to have tossed either of these fine animals to the wayside! How beautiful it is that Robbie and Elizabeth have such kind hearts. People are just too eager to toss things (and pets) to the wayside.
Some folks would much rather toss things in the garbage than to spend a bit of time and effort to revive, reuse or repurpose it. The thought of "making do" is out of the realm of many folks. The "toss it and buy a new" mentality has filled the landfills beyond capacity and have literally made dumps of so much of our beautiful Earth. This makes me sad. Personally, I have a tendency to use things even beyond their durability stage. I save things to the point that my kids worry about my "hoarding problem". I figure it is not really hoarding if you actually use the items. It is more like commonsense.
This "Don't toss it" thought must be something that was drilled into my head as a kid. I can remember Granddad telling me to "Put that up. You may need it some day." He was right. So it is easy to see why my brothers fall right in that almost hoarding group as well. My oldest brother was doing yard work for an elderly lady when he noticed that her neighbor put a potted plant in the trash. Granted, the begonia was past its prime and looked sort of sad. He felt bad for the poor plant and snagged it off the trash heap. After a bit of loving care, he brought the plant down to me. "Here. I got you this out of the trash." Sweet! My brother obviously thinks very highly of me if he brings me trash....hmmmm. Anyway, he handed me the plant, gave strict instructions on how to care for it and said he had beans cooking back at his house. With that, I became the proud owner of a begonia.
Since the plant came to reside here, it has bloomed profusely and is now making seed pods. The thing has doubled in size with my following his detailed care instructions. The man sure can make things grow. But just think. This plant was doomed. Tossed aside as trash by the previous owners. How sad. What a waste.
