Abner's Nature Adventures

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Abner, May 22, 2016.

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  1. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    So I was chillaxing at my computer the other night. I look to the side, and I see a little gray baby mouse staring back at me from the left side of my computer. He probably wandered in to the house from the river behind my house. I leave the back door open during the day (while I am at home) so my dogs can go in and out of the yard. Then I thought, oh damn, what do I do? Then the solution came to me. I would close the door to my home office/room, and employ the services of my trusty mouse catcher Kiki. So I trapped the cat and mouse in the room. I had to create a little commotion to get the mouse to come out of hiding. Sure enough, my cat caught the mouse, then ran off and decided to deposit said mouse in to my bathtub. She swatted it a few times, then decided she was not longer interested, and left the mouse in the tub. This worked out perfectly, because the mouse tried to escape by climbing up the sides of the tub, but it was to tall and slick, so the mouse could not escape. I then got a towel and sort of draped it over the mouse, thereby entraping it. I then took the little rascal out back so it could scamper back to the river where it came from. I guess this mouse was lucky, my old cat Rutherford would have killed it instantly. Apparently, Kiki doesn't have the killer instinct.

    Then, about a month ago, a frog wandered in to the house. This caused a great commotion since my two dogs and cat had to be held back. I had to move and rearrange furniture so I could catch the damn frog (he was fast) and release it in to my pond. It gave me great joy to see frogs return to my area. For the last 10 years, I was concerned because it seemed as if the frogs just disappeared. Their presence is a good sign.

    Then, a couple of weeks a go, I look out my kitchen window, and I see a giant desert tortoise in the middle of the street! I thought to myself "What the hell?". It looked like a big rock with legs. I ran out in to the street and grabbed it, because I was afraid a car my hit it. I then put it down on the lawn, and I was kind of baffled by the fact that those things can move pretty fast! I asked my neighbor if he knew who this tortoise belonged to. It turns out, it was a neighbors. He had left his gate open, and he escaped. So I hoisted the tortoise on to my back (It must have weighed 50 or 60 pounds, and took the long walk to my neighbors/owners house. Of course, amidst all of the excitement, all of nearby kids were in tow, following me with their skateboards and bikes. It turned in to a sort of mini parade. :smile:

    It doesn't end there, but as I have a propensity towards verbosity, I will conclude my comments.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 22, 2016
  2. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    I'm seeing all sorts of wildlife in my very suburban neighborhood that's nowhere near anyplace where they'd usually live. I've seen deer, turkeys, coyotes, and foxes either in my yard, or wandering down my street. It's not unfamiliar for me, having seen all that and more while hunting/vacationing in Maine for years with my Dad, but my wife acts like we're being invaded by aliens.

    One night I was working an overnight shift, and she called me because our dog had to go out at 4am, and she was terrified of being attacked by a coyote in our backyard. I had to laugh, because our dog is an English Mastiff who's already 170lbs at 8 months old, and he's extremely protective of the entire family. I honestly think she believed that Wile E. Coyote was going to come running by on 2 feet, holding an ACME bomb, or something.
     
  3. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    He he! A coyote would make a good snack for dog of that size! We have quite a variety of wild life where I live. There are some trees along the river by my house, and these birds that resemble white cranes live there. They are very large. One landed in my back yard once. It spread it's wings, and the wing span was very impressive. We also have hawks. Years ago I used to collect show quality Koi imported from Japan. I then began to notice that some of them would go missing. One day, my wife looked out the back window, and saw a hawk looking down at our pond! It turns out the hawks were the culprits. I decided to scoop up the remaining Koi, and I gave them to my friend Mr. Takashagi. I now buy feeder goldfish since they are very cheap ($5.00 for 100) and stock them in the pond. If the hawks eat them, I just replace them. I didn't want to place a bunch of ugly nets on top of my pond. A pair of ducks have also taken up residence in the pond.
     

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