Do you see him?
There, on the end of the stone wall.
It’s a little baby chucker.
And I am totally in love with these guys.
They’ve started to use the wall as their own personal jungle gym….
And scamper around like little Tasmanian devils.
It’s entertaining as hell.
At least that’s what it looked like in the field across the street.
(Pardon the picture quality, it was far away and my zoom was maxxed out.)
I thought it was a dog…..
But it wasn’t a dog.
It was the often heard, but seldom seen coyote.
And while I recognize his necessary part in the eco system…..
I admit I was a little nervous seeing him cross the street….
And head down into the woods where our deer, fox, raccoons, skunks and woodchucks live.
But what made me even more nervous?
Was realizing there were actually two of them.
Oh, you thought the squirrel eviction was the end?
No, that was merely a side story.
The nightmare was the hole.
And the decades worth of squirrel nests concealed there in.
Appropriately masked, the husband approached.
Pulled a panel and…
How’s that for an action shot?
Man, you would not believe how much stuff he pulled out of there.
It was, in a word…. disgusting.
And landed everywhere.
If that isn’t enough to make the husband pay attention when I wave the honey do list in the future?
Nothing ever will be.
So now we had an empty hole.
A big empty hole with a badly installed spotlight fixture.
And a momma squirrel… who even though she found and moved her babies… still wanted back in.
So as the husband worked, with an audience, and stomped my geraniums to such a pulp I had to temporarily relocate them…
Momma squirrel was watching.
Many frustrating hours later, just as I was willing to admit defeat and use this-
It was done.
Hole plugged.
And momma red thwarted. We think.
Mad momma squirrel’s rampage continued for almost an hour.
Poor little thing, I did feel badly for her.
She was looking everywhere for her babies.
And then..
There they were.
Calling frantically for her.
So she came and got them, one by one.
Right past us, no fear at all.
I don’t know where she took them, but I hope it’s far away.
I love all our visiting critters.
But not when they want to actually take up residence in our house.
First there were two in back of the big barn.
Then three.
Then four.
Then five little scampers!
No wonder momma chucker needs a support bra.
So…
Momma squirrel was not happy we’d disturbed and scattered her children.
Not. At. All.
Matter of fact, she was downright pissed. And as the husband was working on fixing that awful hole…
She was positively manic, running to and fro….
Climbing….
Perching..
Even trying to get in the house.
It was crazy.
But what she really wanted was back in that hole.
And as the husband worked, she watched.
See her up top?
The longer it went on…. the braver she got.
There were times I thought she would climb right over the husband to get in there.
She was one mad momma.
To be continued…
So.
Our resident woodchuck….
Who we (ever so creatively) call Mr. Chuck?
Yeah.
We may need to rethink that.
Can someone please call Jane Russell?
Because momma woodchuck is in serious need of a few eighteen hour bras.
Squirrels have to be brave to cross the wide treeless open that is the bird feeder area of our backyard.
So we rarely see more than one grey.
Until there’s something worth having that is.
These little sparrows adore the boxwood shrubs.
And the woodchuck?
Still feeding, still fat…
And now?
Winking and waving as well.
This last pic looks like a little inter species communication is happening.
Although aside from the deer saying “Please don’t poop on me.” I’m not sure what they have to talk about.
We now have daily duck visitors.
A pair of mallards who make me smile and cut grapes in half. It’s the best food for ducks…. though they prefer to nibble on deer grain.
They’re here off and on all day but make a point of showing up about 4:00pm when I put out the nightly treats for the deer.
You would think the considerably larger deer would scare them off.
But in actuality, it’s the opposite.
The deer is frightened of the ducks and makes sure to eat on the opposite side.
Keeping one eye on those terrifying birds the whole time.
It’s not like I don’t welcome and feed all our visiting critters enough of a variety.
Three types of bird seed, suet, strawberries, peanut nuggets, oranges, grape jelly, blueberries, nectar, deer grain, salad scraps, old bread, apples and pears…
Christ, I even buy special dog food with taurine for the foxes.
And we don’t have a dog!
So yes, I was a little peeved when I went to sit on the barn porch the other day..
And saw that one of them had done this –
And this –
As well as this –
On every single seat cushion.
Ungrateful little bastards!
River's world..... 