Wild Kingdom

 

Because I never think to carry a camera with me at all times, I mostly succeed in missing all the really dramatic visitations that occur in our yard. Hence, Robin the Good's stuffed animal collection will offer stand-ins for the actual critters. (Above is "Snake", one of Robin's favorite toys. There are three (3!!) squeakers in this play thing which lends an almost stereophonic soundscape to her rough-housing.)

Coyotes have become a regular feature of life in the wilds of suburban Connecticut. Alarmingly, last week I opened the back door at 10:00 in the morning to hear what I thought was a siren. On closer listen, I realized- as did Robin who wanted back into the house- that it was a pack of coyotes. Out and hunting in broad daylight seemingly just one backyard away. Yikes! Probably hunting turkeys...

So we have turkeys; boy do we have turkeys! There's a flock, or a slew, or... what's the group name for turkeys? A throng? Dunno but we have what must be an extended family of them. Every day or two, they make a slow-motion appearance in the horse field. The horses don't seem perturbed, but Robin goes ballistic. They show up and dine on horse poop. They also are no doubt eating endless bugs and ticks so they are indeed welcome.

(Okay, that's "Bison". I thought it was a squirrel when I purchased it, but it does have horns and on closer examination, yes, it's definitely a buffalo). Anyway, the other day when I was playing with Neko in the round pen, She kept flexing her nostrils and holding her head really high, like she was smelling something. I trying peering across our stream to the area that was holding her interest. I saw motion in the bushes and thought maybe it was our resident fox but NO! It was a large and muscular bobcat. I was brandishing my (long) lunging whip anyway, so I ran to the lower end of the round pen and swung my whip around and ululated loudly. The bobcat- correctly- assumed it was being hunted by a human lunatic and took off towards the nature preserve which our property abuts. Good riddance!

(That's "Alien". Robin doesn't care one whit for Alien but I like him/her.) I saw something that not please me at all the other night. When taking Robin out for her late-night pee, I thought I detected a large dark form near our side fence, between the birch clump and the wood pile. Holy fucking crap! It was a deer! We have been blessedly free of these cloven hoofed vermin; all they do is chew things to pieces. It scrambled to safety as I bolted out of  the house, (again) ululating wildly. (I think there is a pattern developing here. If it keeps the wildlife in abeyance, I'll gladly keep exercising the weirder aspects of my sound-making capabilities!)

("Frog" who makes a peculiar crunching/clunking noise because you put an empty plastic container inside of it. Robin's had this toy forever and he's stood the test of time and constant dog chew.) We also have a neighbor's stanky Siamese cat that insists on putting in guest appearances. I just don't like this pest, particularly because it emerged from the hay section of our barn once and the area smelled like nasty cat piss for days. It's a grudge match since then, with me hollering like a banshee and giving chase (sometimes in the car... don't ask) when I see it. (Our next door neighbors on the other side of the driveway witnessed one of my finer performances involving this cat several years back. I believe I recounted that particularly embarrassing event in a previous blog.) 

(Your guess is as good as mine, here. Chipmunk? Squirrel? Corduroy hybrid? I had to replace the eyes as Robin pulled them off early in this toys debut at our house; that only added to it's elusive identity.) So what else? We do have a fox that stops by. And Bob has a special gaggle of crows that await his mouse offerings. I think they've missed him these past few days as he recuperates. The crows were massed by the driveway and vegetable garden- unusual location for them!- and seemed to be looking for Bob. Don't tell them, but we did catch a mouse and I'll be delivering it to them soon.

Our friends (Hi Sheldon! Hi Louise!) in Hamden have had a bear ramble up the driveway recently. No thank you! You can keep the bears! We have plenty enough wild life without bears!
 

 

Who Wore It Better? (And Other Goings On)

                              
                              

Well... what do you think? Bob was channeling his inner Billy Porter and I was fortunate enough to capture him on camera. I guess we needed a bit of light hearted diversion as there's so much grimness out there: like the death of democracy! But hey! Who's counting?
Anyway, I vow not to be political in this post as we all need a break but WTF?!?!!? Our newly minted king is already feeling his wild oats and wreaking havoc throughout the kingdom...  Arrrughh! What was I just saying? Hard NOT to be obsessed with all things political. Well, thanks to Mitt Romney anyway.
Okay, here's something completely different. Bob (although not wearing that attractive lampshade head ornament) has been inspired to build a nice wooden gate behind our wood pile, which serves to not only provide a back stop for our fire wood, but shields us from the neighbor's house.

Looks almost religious. Hahahaha! That's just the difference in wood tones between the fence sections he used to construct the two gate panels and the reinforcing vertical strips. Soon enough, they will all weather to the same shade. The gate now easily opens so that we can simply back the truck up and unload firewood. We used to have to toss it over the fence which was way more work and supremely awkward. Additionally, when we sit on our terrace and enjoy our afternoon coffee or a nice pre-dinner cocktail, we no longer have to catch glimpses of our neighbor's suburban Shangri La.
Awesome; let's hear it for Bob!
The next picture tells a sadder tale:

While strolling about the garden, desperately wishing for the arrival of an early spring, I couldn't help but remark to myself that our DeGroot's Spire Arborvitae looked particularly slim. (They're supposed to be narrow, but this was extreme). Several days later, it looked even skinnier. It dawned on me that we have fallen prey to the scourge of foraging deer, a fate we have been spared until now. I was so pissed! They even chewed off DeGroot's little topknot; I sure hope he recovers this spring! I swaddled him as a protection, but it's too late to have prevented the damage done. No longer will I be cavalier and assume we're lucky. This spring will bring a stepped up campaign of spraying deer repellent and vigilance!