HUMANE, adj. marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals.
Yesterday my son Ethan bought (with a birthday gift certificate) two humane animal traps. He has dreamed of trapping for at least a year. As soon as we got home, he read the papers that were included with the traps, and he carefully set them up outside and baited them with tasty morsels. We all wondered how soon we could expect to see his first catch.
We didn’t have long to wait, because it happened just this morning!
Grace and I were sitting on the porch when we heard an animal making a fuss in the trap that Ethan had set up by the house, hidden among the bushes. We yelled to Ethan that he caught his first animal and then all the children ran to see what he caught.
Boy, were we surprised!
Apparently this particular animal cannot resist cheese, sunflower seeds, and dry cereal.
Help has arrived. Time to release the catch.
The catch wants to swipe the smile off Ethan’s face.
The catch does not know how to get out.
So we flipped him upside down.
And we stood him up.
We pulled and we shook. Finally, he fell out. If animals could talk we might hear an objection to the word “humane”. This was just too much humiliation, and not enough compassion, sympathy, or consideration, for one morning.
Please remember, beloved furry friend, to ignore the cheese and stay out of the trap.
And please, forgive Ethan.
What will we catch next? Stay tuned………
Good to be Home 
Too funny….I was laughing last night at the thought of catching our cat in a humane trap we plan to set up shortly for a ground hog. That just adds to the mental picture I had that had me laughing hysterically. Thanks for the smile!!
oh, there’s always an adventure or another going on round there… 🙂 so fuN!this reminded me of the time my brother and i set a trap that looked exactly like this one. guess what we caught? a SKUNK!!!! now that was interesting trying to get out… :)happy day there, friend.
too funny! my dad would catch skunks too!!! really there is not a stinkier catch then that! I hope he doesn’t catch one of those!(or a porcupine!)
OH MAN how much fun is that?! Pretty funny too. Poor Kitty!
LOL! This is priceless! I had to show my hubby your post and pictures and we both got a great laugh out of it.
Too funny! I’m sure the kitty doesn’t appreciate the humor, though. Never a dull moment, eh?
that is just hilarious!!!! The funny things your kids do:):)
This made me laugh, my dear Shanda, and believe me, I needed it! That cat just looks too indignant! Poor kitty!
How funny. I agree, the kitty probably wasn’t thinking that was too “humane”…;)
Oh that POOR kitty!! : ) It makes me smile just seeing the look on it’s fuzzy face! My son would LOVE to trap animals. And maybe that’d be more humane than shooting them which is what he’d really like to do. What happens if something is trapped that is pretty ferocious? Like raccoons can get pretty mean? Is there an easy way to let them go without being in danger? Listen to me, being a mom.
The best laugh I have had in weeks!!I love the first picture. Your family has the most fun! Oh! Thank you for posting on that.
I love the first picture….the close up of a very annoyed and embarressed cat. Dignity is of utmost importance to them, and I think your son may have messed with that. Just maybe. Too funny!
Ethan makes me think of Davy Crockett. He sure has that adventurious spirit about him. How fun!!!
That is really funny! Thanks for your kind words about the babies. It is so special. Praying now for HELP to come when they arrive!!!
@lynn – I thought the same thing That was hysterical!
How funny! My husband purchased one of those traps last year. We had a pesky groundhog so we caught him and brought him to an open wooded area across town and let him go!I love reading your blogs and looking at the pictures you post. Your family is always having such a great time and enjoying themselves! It’s so wonderful! Also, so refreshing to see children exploring and enjoying life away from a television!!!!Have a happy and safe 4th of July weekend!
Aww… 🙂
How funny. That first photo of the cat shows just how disturbed he was…but really too funny. Happy trapping to Ethan.
I am just about splitting my sides. That is so funny.
I had to laugh at that:)
After your recent post about Ethan’s fascination with edible plants, and now this one about his current interest in trapping, I am just thinking that Ethan is one cool kid! And the love for reading that you have instilled in your kids has had such an impact on their ability to explore the world in their own ways. It is all such a wonderful adventure for your whole family!
Since we live in the country, we share “our” place with lots of wild critters, too. And they love to help themselves to horse feed, chicken feed, whatever they can scrounge. So my farmboy sets a trap, too, and sometimes gets a surprise, such as Ethan got. When he gets the real culprit, Mr. Ringtail is not happy, either. But he shouldn’t be so greedy…and messy!Don’t forget that such critters can carry rabies…(not wanting to add a downer to your light-hearted post, but it’s true). And then there is Mr. Stinky, who also loves whatever Ethan baits his trap with…how would your intrepid son extract him????? You gotta have a plan…
This post put a big smile on my face! -Maria
My girls and I are sitting here at my desk laughing at your story and pictures. Poor kitty!
This was hilarious! You should make this into a little book.
Hi my long not visited friend Shanda Yes, you’ve been faithfully posting, I just havn’t faithfully been visiting. But I do think about you quite often. Honest! The pictures in this particular posting made me smile, chuckle, and yet get tearry eyed. Our cat Rascal died in mid May. He looked a LOT like your cat!!! He was 18 years old. When we got him we had waited to name him till we found a name that “fit”. Rascal fit him to the very end!!! I can fully imagine his indignation at being trapped thus!!! It would probably match how he was after the fire men rescued him from up inside my box springs during our house fire. Memories … Brian and the only son that is home this holiday weekend, are in watching something on the History channel and the thought came that this would be the perfect chance to visit you. I am so glad God gave me that thought!!! You, my friend, have helped refresh my spirit. Thank-you! Recenly a first time visitor to our blog commented about how we had a “quaint little blog”. At first, I really wasn’t sure if that was intended as complimentary or what. But the more I puzzled over it, the more the Lord reminded me how much I enjoyed things like “Little Women” and “Little Men”, as well as “Anne of Green Gables” (notice I added the “e” to her name ;-p), “The Little House” series (although my fav. of those is “Farmer Boy” – perhaps because I have all sons?), etc. so-o-o seeings how all of those are oft times labeled as “quaint”, then having my blog dubbed that is a good thing. Shanda, I said all of that so you would know that when I say you too have a “quaint” blog – it IS a compliment!!! I like the methodology you guys use to keep track of your turtles and their names. Cute! So many things I could comment on, but Brian just came in to say that we are going to visit his folks this evening, and we’re leaving in a hour. I had best hit the shower. I do want you to know though that I am THRILLED with you over the safe arrival of your ADORABLE baby!!! The picture of her in the patchwork dress is just so cute! As is this one, and that one, and …. Your mom has been blessed with twelve grand children so far? Awesome!!!! The original reason I had backed off of visiting friends blogs, had to do with my own grand daughter. Her first birthday was June 4th. I worked really hard at my physical therapy for my vertigo, took lots of med’s and made the four hour drive sucessfully Aw what joy it was to be with them again!!!! But I had also made her a quilt (I of course blogged about it), and her B-day cupcakes, and … so blog visiting took a back seat I am glad that you had both tried and liked the No-Bake Cheesecake I had posted. It’s so-o-o good! Well… best be getting myself ready… chuckle, chuckle…. I could spend quite a bit of time chatting with you my friend! Please ask your loving husband to “sacrafice” and give you a huge hug from me (o;-p)Cheryl B,http://thebzhousethatlovebuilt.blogspot.com
Reading this post was a great way to start the day!!
Hi Shanda Yes, I’m back o En-route last evening I was telling Brian about this particular posting and amongst his chuckling he said that the answer is water. ??? Get a spray bottle of water, and after opening the end of the trap, start squirting the animal in the face slowely with water. Their reflex will be to back away from it, thus exiting the cage. Thought I shuld share that with you. But since I’m back, I might as well chat some more with you … o;-p (hope you don’t mind) The posting you did showing pictures of your boys playing in the sand/dirt? and having a jolly ‘ole time doing so, brought a couple of different memories to mind. My motto always was that boys (kids) are washable, whether it be with the hose outside, or straight into the tub. These stories are examples – For years, every fourth of July weekend, many of us from church would get the group camping site at a state park, set our trailers and tents up in a huge circle, and spend the weekend camping together. Everybody did their own meals, but we all went swimming together, etc. and gathered together at night for one huge shared camp fire. One year we had not been able to get that site and ended up at a different camp ground. We pretty much filled the far end, over 1/4th of their camp ground. We still had fun. Saturday during the wee morning hours, a HUGE storm rolled in off of Lake MI. Seriously, it was HUGE!!! My Brian was standing in the middle of our tent holding it down and yelling at the top of his lungs to my brother who was in the tent just a couple of feet away from ours, who was attempting to hold their tent down. “Hey Noah (not my brothers name), you guys okay over there?” “Yeah Noah, why didn’t you tell me to bring the ark instead of a tent this time?!” At the time, we had three of our four sons, and the youngest had been born mid-March. He was sleeping contently on his folded into a square sleeping (bag) mat, and I was attempting to calm his older brothers. Then one time when I looked over at him, I realized he was blowing bubbles. His sleeping bag had absorbed so much water that was seeping up into the tent, that he was blowing bubbles in it while breathing. HORRORS!!!! (sp?) The next morning, instead of having leasuly breakfasts before packing up and heading home, everybody was wandering around accessing everybody elses damage, trying to figure out how to get things dried out enough to pack them up, etc.. My two eldest sons had discovered the enormous mud puddle in the driveway right in front of our site. They were thrilled!!! They would move if somebody needed to drive through, but otherwise that is where they wanted to stay, and so I let them. I kept an eye on them, but went about my business of trying to pack things up. We loaded everything into the car except the soap, shampoo, and a change of clothes for Brian and the boys. When we were ready to head home, I drove the car up to the main building where the bathrooms were, while he walked the boys up. He took one in, showered him and brought him safely out to me where I put him in his car seat and gave him food while he showered the other one. While I got that one settled in the car, Brian showered himself. The boys had had so much fun, they had tired them selves out and were sound asleep before we hit the highway on ramp, which was less than a quarter mile away ;-p. The other story has to do with where we currently live. We moved in here Labor Day weekend of the year our youngest started kindergarden (he turned 22 this past week). There is an alley that runs along one side of our house. There are six houses total on this block who’s driveways/parking areas are off of that alley. The alley is not paved, and our house sits on a hill. Thus every time there was a substancial amount of rain fall, the boys (the second eldest one in particular) loved being out there running little boats down the gullys that formed, etc.. AS long as there was no thunder or lightening, I’d let them, with stern warnings about watching for cars, and keeping an eye out the sindows for them myself. Our neighbors got quite the chuckle out of it. They said that they got themselves into the mind set that if it was raining, you had to pull into the alley slower than slow, cuz the “B boys” would be out playing in the mud ;-pThanks for listening ~your friend,Cheryl B.http://thebzhousethatlovebuilt.blogspot.com
Cameron and I both thoroughly enjoyed this post. He is always trying to catch something—probably got the idea at your house one of the times that we stopped over.
Oh My……so funny! Love the cat’s expression in the first photo. “Get me outta here NOW!…please?”
Ahahahaha that is soooo funny! Kitty sure did look annoyed! 🙂
Very Cool!!! That was funny