Thu, 12 Jun 2008
Critter Surprises
So, the other day, as I'm talking on the phone with my sister who lives in NYC, I glance out my dining room windows into my backyard. Now, my backyard looks nice. Not yet great as I have some ivy to trim. Then, it will look great. But, as I'm on the phone with my sister, I see the biggest groundhog in the world walking towards my vegetable garden. This thing was/is so big, you could see a thick layer of fat all over it. Its little legs were nearly invisible due to how huge its body was/is. I initially thought it was a beaver! So, I'm chatting away with my sister all the time watching this gargantuan groundhog trot into my vegetabel garden. I can't see my vegetables from my house - lots of trees and shrubs in the way. So, I assumed the groundhog was going back to feast on my lettuce, carrots and radishes. This was depressing to me, so I didn't go look for some time. I walked back to the garden last evening and to my surprise and delight, my "crops" have remained uneaten. I thought groundhogs hibrenated for the winter and lived off their fat. If that is true, this thing must have been frighteningly large in the fall. O'kay, so that's one critter surprise. Well, yesterday, I'm sitting on my sofa in my living room knitting and I hear a strange noise. I first assumed it was my neighbor. He's a handy guy and always working on some sort of project but then I realized the sound was much to close to be my neighbor. I looked up across the living room, through the dining room windows at the kitchen door and what do I see? A squirrel hanging on the screen door on the inside. Yes, that's right. One the INSIDE! Holy Toledo! Now what do I do!? We've had chipmunks in the house courtesy of our now passed cat, Chuck. They are not so difficult to shoo out. A squirrell, however, is scarey to have in your house. They have sharp claws and sharp teeth and I figure they are probably not afraid to use them. So, here's this squirrel hanging on the inside of my screen door. I got up and went out the front door. As I got to the deck, the squirrell saw me and jumped off the screen and headed to the back window in the kitchen. Swell! I opened the screen door and walked in the kitchen only to see the paniced little thing clinging to the woodwork around the window, bonking his head against it trying to get out. I walked out onto the deck, clapped my hands and like a lightening bolt, the squirrel ran out of the house and up a silver maple tree. It was able to push its way in at a corner of the screen that has pulled away from the door frame. No damage done, except the need to repair the screen. So, that's critter surpirse number two. I really hope that's all.
posted at: 09:46 | path: /peggy2008 | link for this entry