Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Wednesday's wandering topics

Happy Wednesday! I have a double header for you today. I will be posting the next installment of the Box Cat saga but I am also sharing this gem of a news story:


Cat suspected of smuggling cell phones into Russian prison


MOSCOW - Inmates at Russia's prisons have been known to bribe guards to obtain cell phones. But using cats as couriers?


Guards patrolling a prison colony in Russia's north saw a feline on the fence and it seemed to be carrying something. On a closer look, they found a few cellphones and chargers taped to the cat's belly.

The federal prison service said Monday that this happened on Friday at Penal Colony No. 1 near the city of Syktyvkar in the Komi province, some 600 miles northeast of Moscow.

It wasn't clear how the cat was supposed to drop off its loot.




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And now for a totally not related peek into life in The Peak:


“Hey Digger!” Mike called out as he trotted through the parking lot of the local nursery. Digger turned and smiled though he didn’t stop walking to his truck. Mike didn’t take offence since Digger was carrying a bag of something or other that looked heavy.


“Let me give you a hand with that,” Mike said when he got closer. He opened the tailgait of Digger’s pick-up and stepped out of the way when Digger dropped the bag into the bed. A small cloud of smelly dust wafted up and Mike coughed a bit. Apparently Digger had had a load of manure in his truck recently. There was a unique stick to cow poo that made Mike gag every time.

“What can I do for you, Mike?” Digger asked smirking. Wolves like Digger were not fazed by the smell of manure despite having very good noses. Everyone knew that cats like Mike hated stinky stuff, though.

“I was wondering if you could help me find a source for gigantic veggies,” Mike weezed. “I’m planning on opening a steakhouse and want to be able to offer more than the usual grilled meat.”

“And you need giant veggies for that?” Digger asked curiously.

“I can’t very well offer one of those ‘eat all the giant steak and you get if free’ gimmicks if I don’t have gigantic steaks. Gigantic beef, antelope, and other red meat steaks, sure. But I need huge eggplants to offer that deal to all my customers.”

“Ah,” Digger said, nodding his head enthusiastically. “That’s a really good idea, actually. Well, eggplants get real tough if you grow them too big, but squash don’t have that issue. I can supply you with 60-70 lb pumpkins and zucchini easily. In fact, I was trying to come up with a source to buy the excess veggies for the local farmers who want to grow jumbo produce.”

“What do you mean?” Mike asked curiously.

“Well, the big thing these days is trying to grow record breaking produce. Lots of people are interested in that and I’m trying to get even more folks to give it a shot. The problem is, to get one pumpkin big enough to be a contender you’ll end up with perhaps a dozen that are huge but not big enough to worry about.”

“And getting a crop of over-sized squash to market to sell could be a hassle,” Mike grinned and nodded. That would work out fabulously for him. “But since my steakhouse will be local, they would only have to truck their produce a few miles into town.”

“You’d need to build a pretty good sized cool storage room, though,” Digger cautioned. Everything would come ripe all at one time and you’d need to be able to store it safely.”

“That’s not a problem, Digger. I have ten acres right on the edge of town that I was planning to turn into the restaurant. I was going to put in some greenhouses to grow my grilling veggies year round so I’ll always have fresh produce. But research told me that growing the really huge ones is more of an art than a science.”

“It is,” Digger agreed. “If you need any help with the greenhouses, let me know. I can find people to run your growing operation for you.”

“I’m still in the planning stages right now, but I’d like to break ground in the next month.”

“I thought I saw building over on your land,” Digger said dubiously.

“For the restaurant, yes,” Mike said nodding. “I haven’t begun the greenhouse yet since the idea just barely came to me to grow my own. I’ll be able to open my doors in a few weeks and greens are plentiful in mid-summer. Long-term thinking made me realize that getting ahold of good quality greens in January could be tough. I’m planning on selling only the freshest red meat and poultry so I want to be able to offer my non-meat eating customers the same thing.”

“That sounds like a very good business model,” Digger agreed. “I know a whole bunch of folks around her who’d really love a restaurant like that. Some of the blended families with both herbies and carnies have to go to human establishments to eat out as a family and then they have to worry about acting like humans while eating.”

“Oh, I’ll allow humans in the main dining room. But I’m building one whole wing just for herbies and another just for carnies and a third one with several private banquet rooms. I figure I’ve got the land and the money, so why not.”











5 comments:

Pat C. said...

Omigod! That cat looks just like the stray I've been feeding! So that's where he goes during the day!

Sure hope that guy in the pic isn't frying anything ...

And ... it's the Talbot's Peak giant produce contest! See whose vine holds the biggest tomatoes! If Mike can't use all the stuff, I'm sure Louie could find a use for it. Pumpkin pie and squash soup, anybody?

Savanna Kougar said...

Oh, poor kitty. He was just trying to help out, get s few good meals out of the deal. I hope they don't throw him in prison.

That is a good biz model Mike's got going on... with all the new shapeshifter/supernaturals moving to the Peak, and surrounding areas, there's enough customers for everyone.

Louie and Mike could work out a deal, too... so they both get supplied with the good fresh veggies and fruits. 'Course, the eateries at the Pleasure Club are gonna be on the lookout for fresh organic type produce, also.

Savanna Kougar said...

This episode: The Art of Frying Without Personal Injury

Serena Shay said...

He's a manscape with a plan! Love it!!

Now that schools letting out, I can see all the town's teens wanting to try their hand at growing super sized veggie selections. :)

Savanna Kougar said...

Heck, I thought the teens would be hanging out at Classic Car Night... course, they could do both... keep 'em busy and out of trouble.