Animal-Control Ministry . . . the newest CNMC outreach tool

At 12:30am this morning (night?), our dog, Max, was going crazy because of all the stray dogs barking outside. One of the strays, "Mama," is in heat again which always brings the male dogs around and Max does not like it. Vito went out and "shooed" them all away with the help of his new air-soft gun. Yes, we got an air-soft gun to attempt to deter the number of strays on the property. It took care of them for at least long enough for us to go back to sleep, but we still faintly heard them multiple times during the night.

This morning, the cats were missing and Vito saw Fern was locked in the neighbors' abandoned trailer (which they've started locking for some reason and apparently have found the cats in there multiple times). Also, Gracie had gotten into the CNMC van when we got home from church last night and we didn't know.

When Vito asked the neighbor to let Fern out this morning, he found out that the big commotion during the night was that the neighbor's pit bull got off the chain and ripped up one of the strays (boy, do I feel safe now). He hasn't seen the ripped up stray yet this morning, but the pit bull is covered in blood.

Also, apparently another stray pulled a dog body out of the field behind us for them all to enjoy. The neighbor got it and threw it back into the field.

Yet another morning where I ask, "Where on earth do we live!?!?!?!?"
Can you imagine what kinds of diseases are lurking around here?

I'm thinking it's time to open up an animal-control ministry. Wonder if I can find grants for that?

Now, for some pics of the furry members of our family . . .

Max, our 7-year-old Lab mix. He's the best behaved dog I've ever met. His favorite spot is on the couch or in front of the window just watching the world fly by.

Shadow, our 6-month-old German Shepherd mix. He's a ball of energy and kind of goofy.

Gracie, our 7-month-old tuxedo cat. She is an outside cat who would love to be an inside cat. She loves to cuddle and is quite talkative.

Fern, our 7-month old tabby cat. She is also an outside cat, but wouldn't mind being inside chilling by herself. She's fearless and will take on the stray dogs with no fear.

Water, please!

We lived for 3.5 years in the far, north frozen tundra of Wisconsin and never had problems with pipes freezing. I think the middle of nowhere town of Cactus, TX could take a lesson from Wisconsin in keeping pipes from freezing (and in clearing snow-packed streets, but that's for another post). Granted, it's probably because we live in a mobile home, which is a whole new adventure for us, but we've now had frozen pipes twice in the past week. The first resulted in a break at the street-side of things and today, we learned that if you pour scalding hot water in the water meter box, the pipes will thaw and you'll have running water again. Makes no logical sense to me, but it worked! Ah, the lessons we've learned from living in a mobile home in the middle of nowhere!

Now, to help Vito clean the bathroom which is now somehow flooded since the water has come back on.

The life of a missionary!