Critters

Tuesday, July 29, 2008.....

Critters is the perfect title for today's blog as I've been intimate with several in the past few days. Since "critter" means creature (according to the dictionary), assume I mean all types.

First, I should state that I live in a surburb with a 1/3 acre of land. This is not what you would consider enough land for a farm, but for some reason, my neighbors did not get the message. On both sides of the house, each neighbor own chickens (one 15, the other not so sure of). However, it doesn't stop there....one has three dogs; the other I believe runs some sort of kennel. The kennel people also own a rooster and a single goose. Why just one? That question has been puzzling me for some time. I could be mistaken; but not in this case. Geese do not provide a source of milk nor do they lay golden eggs as the fairy tale would have you to believe.

In addition to my neighbors' pets (I say pets because one of the chicken's name is Bump), I have rabbits that mate and give birth in my yard every Spring, a neighboring cat that thinks it owns my yard, sometimes wood mallards that reproduce every Springtime and an occasional fox that passes through. It has been a number of years since the deer made an appearance and last Saturday night, a beautiful doe was in my yard. I was so excited until dinner. My fiance and I were discussing the doe as I was looking out the front window at my Casablanca lillies. If anyone knows anything about deer, they know that the lillies are not long for the world. At this point, it is 8:30 and I am now remembering when I first planted the lillies. For the first three years, the lillies would bloom and I would think, they'll be perfect to pick tomorrow. I'd wake up the next day and "poof" gone. Dang deer....

My fiance reminded me that we did not scare the doe away and it would be back. This is when I remembered I had some Irish Spring and needless to say, I was tossing grated IS on the lillies at some later time that evening (yeah, a little wine was involved) ..... The IS worked and I still have beautiful lillies.

However, my critter stories don't end there. Last night, or should I say early this a.m., 4:00 a.m. to be exact, I am awakened to the smell of a skunk. I swear I thought the stupid creature was in my room. The smell was horrible. I got up, investigated the house and realized that the smell was limited to my bedroom and the back bath. I was a bit shocked as I remembered growing up by the water and having a lot of skunk show up late at night in the yard. Seriously, I thought that skunks hung out by the water. When did they migrate???? I guess the real question remains; what the heck set the skunk off? The deer or the neighbor's chickens? My money is on the chickens.

Thank heavens for sugar cookie scented candles... it took the smell right out.

j