Friday, February 10, 2012

The mystery continues... BUT, a clue!

(If you haven't read my previous post, you should do that before you read this one, so you'll know what I'm talking about.)

This morning when I went out to feed the cats, I thought about bringing an extra Cool Whip bowl along, just in case. But I thought nah, nothing would take a Cool Whip bowl.

WRONG!! It was gone. Nowhere in sight. And it was so cold (minus 2° and minus 20-something wind chill) that I hated to have to run back to the house for another one. So I decided to hunt a bit. Lo and behold, I found it! Way back in a dark corner of the shed, next to the combine's corn head. Hurray, now I won't have to run back to the house! 

WRONG!! I got a little closer, and this is what I found... just look at it!!




That certainly wasn't a tongue-stuck-on-the-bowl problem! And Mark, I don't think Grandpa could do that work with his teeth. A nail, maybe, but...... Heheh. I don't think so.

Okay, I think we actually have two clues here: #1) Look how dirty it is. When I put that out there yesterday, it was brand spankin' clean. And cats don't make it dirty. They just drink.  #2) Since it was back by the corn head, I strongly suspect that's where I'll find my 2 missing stainless steel bowls. If only I could lift up that head. Will I actually have to wait till next fall when the corn's ready to combine in order to get my bowls back? *sigh*

Question #1:  Is it a 'coon?
Question #2:  How do I prevent this from happening again???  I do have a pretty good supply of Cool Whip bowls, but they won't last long at this rate!

Update!:  Grandpa found one of the stainless steel bowls tonight... as suspected, under the corn head.  Unfortunately, he left it by the food pans (where it belongs, but.... ). It remains to be seen whether it'll still be there in the morning. It's really cold out, though... maybe the 'coons will be hibernating... I HOPE!

4 comments:

Grace said...

Make a visit to the 2nd hand store and get a heavy pan of some sort. Have the fellas drill a hole in the top edge and put a small link chain--ie. doggie chain--and fasten the pan to the work bench or pole in the shed and just challenge that critter to drag it off again. Good luck. We have alive trap you can borrow to try to capture the culprit--however you may have to release a few kitties before you catch the bad guy.

The Luedtke Family said...

Hmmm, sounds like a mystery to me! Have fun solving it.

Grandma G said...

Trouble with a heavy pan, Grace, is that it's too hard to get the ice out. The stainless steel ones were thin enough that I could pour water over the outside and then just pop the bottom to get the ice out.

We do have a live trap, but yeah... the cats definitely present a problem with that method. ;)

Thanks, Becky... ha!

Keep thinkin', everybody! There's gotta be a way!

Anonymous said...

Well, I may be a little late to the party but I would place my first bet on a racoon and the second on an opossum.

To prevent the carry off, you could use a wire or light chain to attach the bowl to a heavy object.

It would be convenient for the critter to go .......away.
Easily said, but the opportunity may not present itself.
Dale