I live in the city.
I want to state that upfront, and I might
need to remind you later. It's a small city, but it hasn't been farmland for
over forty years, according to the neighbors. So when I hear a noise on my back
deck, I think: home invasion. My mind leaps to episodes of Criminal Minds. Not being TSTL or wearing a white see-through
negligee, it doesn't occur to me to go unarmed to the door.
So I pick up my cell phone, just in case. I have a stick.
Because, [sigh] let's face it, I know what lurks outside my sliding glass door. It'll
be a raccoon or possum. They visit regularly. As do the skunks, but they make noise and odors out front more than in the backyard--of my city dwelling.
But no, not this time. It was this critter, seen here ready to go far, far
away. (I hope.)
. 
A big-toothed,
sharp-clawed groundhog
A big-toothed,
sharp-clawed groundhog
We put up with her stealing the veggies out of last year's
garden. Stripping the green beans bare. Munching on lettuce. Eating one bite of
each green tomato before discarding it.
For all the watering in 100 degree plus temps, the weeding
and hoping we did, we got one salad out of the lettuce, three batches of green
beans, four Roma tomatoes (no Big Boy, no cherry, no Steakhouse), and no
squash, zucchini or whatever else we planted that never appeared as more than a
stalk.
Then this year we investigated under the deck for its home.
A deep burrow right up against the foundation. Hence the cage.
But we were too late.
We now have Gary, the baby groundhog. Gary is too light to trip the
live trap. He has a deep love of grease from near the grill (which he was licking up just before I snapped this), just like his mom.
Right now, he's too small and uncoordinated to climb onto the picnic table to get at
the flowers and veggies that await planting. But he's a digger. His home isn't
as deep, but it appears to be in the same place where he was born.
So we'll be borrowing the trap again, hoping Gary gets in
it to be taken to safety. Because now there's a hawk perching on our fence
every day. Waiting.
Did I mention I do live in the city?
Do y'all have any unexpected animals visiting you?
Megan
P.S. I've escaped the zoo and am on vacation, so if I don't answer, assume I'm somewhere in the wilds without internet.
3 comments:
Since the acreage behind our house has been turned into condos we have far less visitors than we used to. We, too, are in the heart of a city. Yet we had a pair of coyotes and their pups, racoons, oppossums, and even a muskrat attracted to the bird feeders and of course, the skunks. Now, all we have left are the skunks, who think the culvert beneath our driveway would make a good home. However, all the rain forces them to change their minds. Thank goodness.
I have a possum that visits my back door nightly and poops. Yes, I said poops. And every morning it's a battle between my dog and myself to get to it first. He doesn't always successfully leap over it on his way to his morning potty.
I live in a small gated community in South Carolina. We are surrounded by forest on both sides and the Intracoastal Waterway in front of us. There are plenty of secluded areas for him to do his business. But no, the little bugger climbs my 5 foot high fence and leaves me his care package, in front of the door. Go figure!
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