The tale of ‘Stealer’

About a month or so ago, there was an announcement in the park that a feral cat was stalking around, and was very dangerous.  Apparently it had tussled with two other felines in the park; one had to be put down and the other had over $1000 in vet bills.  At the weekly membership meeting, the park manager said that food baited traps had been set out, but someone in the park had been tripping the traps and taking out the food.  He asked that if we saw anyone tampering with the traps, it be reported to him.

The next week the manager reported that he had found out who was tripping the traps.  Turns out that there was also a stray dog in the park, and it was big enough to eat the food, trip the traps, and back out free as a bird.  The culprit was a young yellow lab mix, and had obviously been on its own for some time…kind of skinny and disheveled looking.  It was seen by quite a few folks, and was quite skittish of human contact.

As the days passed, it was thought that someone felt sorry for the dog, and was putting out food for it, so it hung around.  It wasn’t at all mean, but it took up the habit of stealing people’s shoes and other items that were left outside their rigs overnight.  Hence the nickname ‘Stealer’.  Being young, it not only stole the shoes, but tended to chew them up as well.  Stealer also chose to leave large ‘droppings’ at favorite sights.  Of course these were at the homes of people that didn’t own a dog. 

Last week, while taking Emma for a short walk on her first outs, we were approached by Stealer.  Oh boy!  Mayhem insued!  Jumping and running around in circles and nearly yanking my arm out of socket.  I finally had to take shelter in the nearby laundry room where dogs are not allowed.  I explained to the couple inside that we would leave as soon as Stealer left the area.  Didn’t want to get reported for breaking the rules, don’t you know.

Well, just two days ago, someone was able to gain acceptance by Stealer, and was able to get a collar and leash on her.  She’s now in a no kill shelter, and goes by the name of Grace.  Shoes are now safe in the park, and hopefully this exuberant young lady will soon have a forever home.

In the meantime, I helped out at the annual maintenance day at the air gun range.  Most of the volunteers that showed up were men, but there were two of us women.  See all those yellow targets?  I re-painted every one of them.  Lots of work got done, and the range was in spiffy shape for this Monday’s Poker Shoot.

I decided to compete with the ‘big guys’ at the Poker Shoot.  A wooden horse with cards are placed about 33’ out and you have five shots to hit five cards.  Two shooters compete at a time.  Once you get your five (or less) cards, you can try a second time to improve your hand like five card draw.

I initially shot a pair of nines, kept a king, and paid for two more cards.  I thought I had it in the bag to win this shoot out when I ended up with two nines and two kings.  It was not to be, though, when one guy ended up with a five diamond flush.  Aw shucks!  Second place doesn’t get you anything.    A lot of good natured bantering and trash talk goes on at these gatherings.  It was a lot of fun, and maybe I’ll be luckier next time.

Judy Oakley signing off for tonight.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy