Setting Up New RV, Gas Shortage, Homeless Kittens, & Chicken Poop

 

Blairsville, GA  (high 82, low 60)

 

We’ve been so busy setting up the new to us fifth wheel, that we haven’t had much time for fun.  The Cameo we bought was used, so it needs a lot of routine maintenance. Al has been trying to inspect and re-caulk all the seams and openings around the windows, doors and such.  It’s not made like the motorhome and seems to need a lot more upkeep.

We always seal the roof openings with Eternabond tape instead of Dicor caulk.  That way you do it once and don't’ have to worry about it again.  Al is working on that between other projects.

We’re working on making the Cameo feel like home and there seems to be an endless list of things we need to purchase.  Little things like kitchen items, storage shelves and bins, hooks and all those types of things you find helpful.  We seem to find the need to run to Walmart or Home Depot about every day for one thing or another and Amazon has been our friend.

We have an RV gas oven for the first time in years and we LOVE it.   My convection on the motorhome just didn’t work well for home made pizza and we’ve missed having it.  The gas oven in the Cameo works great….once you get the darn thing to light.  My first pizza attempt was a failure.  It turns out I killed the yeast when the water I added was too hot. I was always envious of the wonderful pizzas David and Sherry made and now we can have them too!  

 

You may have heard about the gas pipeline in Alabama that broke causing a fuel spill and subsequent shortage to 5 south eastern states….Georgia included.   It’s been going on about a week now. We’ve had to watch our fuel usage lately.  The gas stations in town have been mostly out of gas and there have been long lines and very little gas available. It seems to be getting better finally. 

In the meantime, we discovered some homeless kittens and a mama cat across the street.  It seems some dumbass had mice and figured an unspayed female cat was the answer. Of course she had kittens and as it turned out she is pregnant again. 

We tried to ignore the situation because we really don’t need any more cats.  The problem with ignoring it (which is what everybody else did) is that in a year we could have a hundred feral cats around the RV park.  We camped at a state park in Georgia many years ago and there were hundreds of feral cats and kittens.  Mostly kittens.  All the suffering was heartbreaking.

So……   I got online and located a local lady who found homes for kittens.  She agreed to take the mama cat provided we took her to the vet to check out and confirm she was healthy and pregnant.  She was both.  Nancy took her and will find a home for her and her kittens when she has them.

The other two kittens she had were older and Nancy didn’t want to take them.  I couldn’t blame here because she had a LOT of kittens. 

We found a place in nearby Murphy, NC that would neuter them and give them a rabies shot for $30 each, so we have an appointment for the on October 5th.

In the meantime, of course we had to start feeding them and now they don’t leave our site unless the neighbor dog chases them up a tree.

I’m trying to find them homes, but without much success.  In the meantime, we’re enjoying watching them play.  I know, I know…..that’s not a good sign.

This is a male.  He’s the friendliest of the two. He met Baxter thru the screen door this morning and they got along surprisingly.  No hissing or spitting, which was a shock.

 

This is the female. When she met Baxter thru the screen door she hissed and spit….much more typical behavior when cats first meet.  Isn’t she pretty?

When it rained the other day, we closed up the golf cart and made them a bed on the seat.  They are pretty smart and got right in the cart.  Our cats wouldn’t have the sense to get out of the rain.    They have never been rained on.

 

They decided to use my planter to do their business, so I put out a kitty pan for them and darned if one of them didn’t use it overnight.  Cats are so smart about using a kitty pan.  I’d rather scoop the pan than have cat poop in my plants!

So, between worrying about Mom, and getting a new household set up, we have kittens to deal with.      If anybody knows someone who might want a kitten, we will deliver.  Seriously…..we will deliver to a reasonably close area within a days drive.  

 

Since the Fifth Wheel will be permanent here, we had steps built.  One thing I always hated about Fifth Wheels was their flimsy steps.   Problem solved.  I love these steps.  We have to wait for the wood to dry before we can stain them. 

 

We did manage to sneak in one short hike the other day at nearby Vogel State Park.  I think it might be the oldest state park in Georgie.  It’s lovely.

 

The dogwoods are starting to change color.

 

We’ve had a drought all summer so the waterfall wasn’t as nice as usual.

 

We’ve taken golf cart rides every night. We haven’t seen any bears yet, but we keep looking.

Hawk

 

turkey

 

 

 

 

 

And last, but not least.  Chicken poop.   See the truck in the field on the right side of the picture?  That is a truck spreading chicken poop in the field.  Apparently it makes great fertilizer. The smell is terrible!   Its been cool at night and we like to keep the windows open, but depending on which way the wind is blowing, it can get a little stinky.  We’re anxious for some rain!