As the neighborhood has grown, a series of fences were put up, mostly for privacy. Now almost every yard is surrounded by fencing. Sightings of natures animals have become fewer and fewer. Now, instead of seeing the graceful run of the deer and such, we get the night critters and other varmints.
Bullfrog:
I have had fish ponds that I have attempted to raise Koi and goldfish. The fish have come and gone, mostly from visits from the "night critters". Occasionally, I get my fare share of tadpoles. Some of these actually make it to the frog stage. After dark, these frogs get to singing, and at times loudly.
Ole Henry Dog is a curious fellow. He loves to chase anything that moves. Spiders, lizards, birds, and squirrels. One day he discovered something moving in the flower beds near the fish ponds. Low and behold, Henry has found my resident bullfrog. Henry got to digging, and sniffing, until he finally cornered that frog. Henry got him by the hind leg and drug him out into the open. Playtime! That frog never had a chance! Henry would grab him, then sling him up into the air, and then give chase!
A bullfrog is one of the hardest critters to actually kill. Been frogging a few times in my youth, with gigs and 22 rifles. End up catching a bunch, and they would all be alive till the very end of giving up their hind quarters. Somehow Ole Henry Dog was able to put this one out of his misery pretty quickly. The frog's revenge was making Henry foam at the mouth. After seeing this ole dog foam, I just about fell onto the ground from my uncontrolled laughter!
Squirrel:
If you live near some woods and you like to feed the birds, then more than likely you will have a run in with your share of squirrels. I had a family take up residence in my attic. They are determined little varmints, and they will find a way. I was determined to rid myself of these pesky critters!
On a shopping trip to Harbor Freight, I came across some varmint traps. Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I bought two of the small ones for about $15. I figured once a squirrel got into to one that he would be too dumb to figure out how to get out. Wrong! After a couple of weeks, all my bait was gone and no squirrels. I then had the idea to add another spring to the trap door, surely that would hold a trapped squirrel.
The next morning, I took Ole Henry Dog out for our morning ritual of finding a bush for him and me. I work my way over to side of the yard where I had set the trap. I'll be dang, the trap had a squirrel in it! I called for Henry and he came a running. We stood there, staring at each other, me and Henry looking at the squirrel, and the squirrel looking back at us. It was like a standoff in the old west, who would make the first move? All of a sudden, that pesky ole squirrel charged the trap door to the cage. The door busted open, and the squirrel literally took flight, landing on a nearby crepe myrtle, and up the tree, and over the fence he went. He left Ole Henry Dog and me just standing there, looking at each other, trying to figure out what just happened! Henry gave me that look of "well, I guess you better get a bigger trap". I started laughing, and I think Henry did too!
Eventually I did go and get me a bigger trap. Me, Henry and Oscar had quite a summer of trapping squirrels, about 15 in all. I had even more fund watching those squirrels haul ass when I released them!
Cat:
I have a love for most of God's creatures, but sorry, a cat is not on my list.
We've been noticing this cat that didn't belong in our part of the neighborhood. Guess he was taking up residence somewhere. One day I walked into the garage, open the door, and then see that damn cat take off. He has taken up residence in MY garage. One morning, Oscar decided to be sneaky and run out the door to the garage. Fortunately I had not opened the garage door yet. Oscar was running with a full head of steam toward the street before he realized the door was still down. Bam! He slid right into the door, since his little feet couldn't slow him down on the slick concrete. Of course I had to laugh at him. He looks up at me and gives me that look, "I smell something!" Oscar begins to follow his nose throughout the garage, till he has picked up that scent of that damn cat! I raise the garage door thinking that the cat would make a run for it. Oscar had him cornered and he wasn't going anywhere. I grab the water hose and work my way over to Oscar. Between Oscar and the water, the cat was losing the battle. Soaking wet, that cat finally made a run for it to the street with Oscar right behind!
We haven't seen that cat since!
Big Mouse or Rat?
Living next to the woods, we have had our fare share of field mice come wandering in. This week we got something a little bit bigger. I was sitting in my chair typing away, when I saw something scoot across the floor. It seems to be bigger than your average field mouse, but didn't see him again. The spousal unit began noticing some "trailings", but she said, "you know, these look bigger that what I'm used to seeing". Dog food started coming up missing, so we put the bowl on the counter. The next morning some of the dog food was in a small pile next to the bowl. It wasn't me, it wasn't the spousal unit, and it sure wasn't Oscar! Time for some traps! I decided to give small mouse traps a try. Before I could even set one out, the Spousal unit found a surprise in the laundry room. Fortunately for her, the critter wasn't moving. Posted this picture on Facebook, everybody agreed that we had ourselves a rat!
I'm hoping that he died from natural causes. I'd hate to think it was from the dog food, or worse my cooking! Mr. Rat has since taken a road trip with the trash. Hopefully none of his relatives stayed behind!
Possum:
Seems like just as soon as we get rid of one kind of critter, another one shows up. The spousal unit went to put the trash into the garbage can, which was empty, and she looked into the bottom of the can and found this:
This was one nasty looking possum! I'm guessing he climbed in during the night and got stuck. Every time we would look in he would start to hissing! Kinda felt bad for him, so I decided to give him a free pass. I rolled the can over to the woods, and leaned it over. Mr. Possum wasn't ready to come out! I finally dumped it over, the possum started walking to the woods, then he turned around, took one look at me, then let out this huge hiss! I think he just cussed at me! Free pass today my friend. Next visit, we play a game of baseball!
I have now sent up my prayers to God that the next critter he sends my way be edible!
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