Lynne
Master of Arts
Just a few minutes ago, I walked out and saw 25 wild turkeys in my yard. Whew, they are oooogly. Not nearly as ugly or as large as the turkey vulture I saw in a tree once. My german shepherd spotted it and barked at it. He really went bonkers. When it flew away, you could hear the wings flapping.
Every once in awhile we see red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle, and falcons.
We have tons of coyotes here. It's rare to see one during daylight hours. Yesterday, I was outside around 4:00 pm (practicing my form!) and I saw a golden-colored "dog" on the back of the property. It was running along our creek. It was definitely a coyote. I like to walk my dog back there but now am concerned there could be a coyote den back there. Coyotes usually run around 30 - 40 pounds and my german shepherd is about 85#, but coyotes often travel in packs.
Two winter ago, I saw bear tracks in the snow in my backyard. Now bears/bear tracks scare the heck out of me.
When it gets dry here, the cougars come down from the hills. About two months ago, I was walking my dog after dark and I heard a wild cat not too far from the neighbor's horse. The scratching "wee-owww" sound it made was so loud it echoed. I got home pretty fast.
Of course we see deer every day of the year up here. One time, there were over 10 in my yard. If you go out at night, you can hear a buck snort every once in awhile. We have to be careful because bucks can be aggressive. I can't believe it, but we haven't hit a deer with a car yet. You'll be driving along a country road, 45 mph, and boom, a deer will run out in front of you. Then, they turn and go back in front of you again. Then, they turn and go the other way again. They give you at least three chances to hit them. Next, their herd tries the same thing, usually two to five more. On the highways that are 55 - 65 mph, the deer explode if a tractor-trailer hits them.
Skunks. You think skunk smells are bad? My husband thinks my coffee smells the same. I say Coronas smell like skunks. One night, we had a smell to beat all. Because we live in the Northeast, we don't have air conditioning on the ground floor. We sleep with the windows open in the summer (unless it's too cool). Gee whiz. A smell woke us up about 1:00 am. It was horrible, all-consuming. I can only describe it as a cross between onions, garlic, and skunky fumes. My husband swore it was a bear because bears smell so bad. Our eyes began burning, tearing up. The smell kept us awake all night long. We figured it was a skunk though. It must have been outside of our bedroom window.
Then there are the owls, o'possums, red foxes, silver foxes, loads of groundhogs. The groundhogs leave huge holes and you have to be careful. You could break a leg if your leg went inside of one. I have come face-to-face with groundhog families. They are fat devils. The babies are cute. My german shepherd nosed a baby and it shrieked and ran off.
Unfortunately, we have squirrels that live in our attic and have storage places in the ceiling and the walls. It's not unusual to hear plop, plop, plop in the wee hours of the morning as nuts fall into the wall or skitter across the ceiling. I don't know if they are playing soccer or what.
The mice aren't so cute. Neither are the rats. Once we had set mousetraps. We went to check on the mousetraps and they'd all disappeared. Gone. Zip. Zero. I bought a rat trap and caught a big ol' greast rat in my root cellar. I guess he'd been carting off the mousetraps with the mousies in them. Yuk. Now, the mice have returned. I need another rat.
Every once in awhile we see red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle, and falcons.
We have tons of coyotes here. It's rare to see one during daylight hours. Yesterday, I was outside around 4:00 pm (practicing my form!) and I saw a golden-colored "dog" on the back of the property. It was running along our creek. It was definitely a coyote. I like to walk my dog back there but now am concerned there could be a coyote den back there. Coyotes usually run around 30 - 40 pounds and my german shepherd is about 85#, but coyotes often travel in packs.
Two winter ago, I saw bear tracks in the snow in my backyard. Now bears/bear tracks scare the heck out of me.
When it gets dry here, the cougars come down from the hills. About two months ago, I was walking my dog after dark and I heard a wild cat not too far from the neighbor's horse. The scratching "wee-owww" sound it made was so loud it echoed. I got home pretty fast.
Of course we see deer every day of the year up here. One time, there were over 10 in my yard. If you go out at night, you can hear a buck snort every once in awhile. We have to be careful because bucks can be aggressive. I can't believe it, but we haven't hit a deer with a car yet. You'll be driving along a country road, 45 mph, and boom, a deer will run out in front of you. Then, they turn and go back in front of you again. Then, they turn and go the other way again. They give you at least three chances to hit them. Next, their herd tries the same thing, usually two to five more. On the highways that are 55 - 65 mph, the deer explode if a tractor-trailer hits them.
Skunks. You think skunk smells are bad? My husband thinks my coffee smells the same. I say Coronas smell like skunks. One night, we had a smell to beat all. Because we live in the Northeast, we don't have air conditioning on the ground floor. We sleep with the windows open in the summer (unless it's too cool). Gee whiz. A smell woke us up about 1:00 am. It was horrible, all-consuming. I can only describe it as a cross between onions, garlic, and skunky fumes. My husband swore it was a bear because bears smell so bad. Our eyes began burning, tearing up. The smell kept us awake all night long. We figured it was a skunk though. It must have been outside of our bedroom window.
Then there are the owls, o'possums, red foxes, silver foxes, loads of groundhogs. The groundhogs leave huge holes and you have to be careful. You could break a leg if your leg went inside of one. I have come face-to-face with groundhog families. They are fat devils. The babies are cute. My german shepherd nosed a baby and it shrieked and ran off.
Unfortunately, we have squirrels that live in our attic and have storage places in the ceiling and the walls. It's not unusual to hear plop, plop, plop in the wee hours of the morning as nuts fall into the wall or skitter across the ceiling. I don't know if they are playing soccer or what.
The mice aren't so cute. Neither are the rats. Once we had set mousetraps. We went to check on the mousetraps and they'd all disappeared. Gone. Zip. Zero. I bought a rat trap and caught a big ol' greast rat in my root cellar. I guess he'd been carting off the mousetraps with the mousies in them. Yuk. Now, the mice have returned. I need another rat.
HAHAHA 
