We Have Varmints
In the twelve years we've lived in our house I've kept a running list of the many critters that have come to visit, gnaw on the the siding, dig under the foundation and sometimes scare the living daylights out of me. When I bought a house surrounded by trees I guess I expected the occasional visitor from nature, but the extensiveness and variety of the list has left me scratching my head.
We've seen squirrels (for two years we had an albino), mice, moles, voles, rabbits, chipmunks, opossums, woodpeckers, hawks, coyotes (please help yourselves to some of the squirrels, guys) and crows.
An owl perches on the eaves occasionally and gazes at us sleepily. The first time we saw him he waited solemnly while the kids and I scrambled for some nature books in an attempt to identify him (a barn owl, we think).
A snake and a toad engaged in a fight to the death on our driveway. The snake had the toad by the leg and the toad kept trying to hop away. We watched for a while and then went inside for lunch; never did find out who won because they were gone when we came back out. Maybe the owl got both of them.
A group of raccoons had a "bachelor party" in our attic for a few nights; did you know you can catch them in a (humane) trap baited with marshmallows?
Every spring one or two nutty birds (maybe they're cuckoos?) hurl themselves repeatedly into our windows, leaving behind sticky deposits of feathers and poop.
Several colossal spiders have given us some detailed lessons in web-building and bug-catching.
We've had carpenter bees, carpenter ants, Karen and Richard Carpenter... no wait, that's not right.
Our neighbors have a koi pond. They swear that the koi eat mosquito larvae and those are tadpoles floating on the surface, but I refuse to believe that tadpoles are making their way to our yard to bite us repeatedly.
Meanwhile, every dog within a one mile radius jumps its invisible fence to hang out in our yard. But so far we seem to have had no takers for our lovely, rent-free bat house.
We've seen squirrels (for two years we had an albino), mice, moles, voles, rabbits, chipmunks, opossums, woodpeckers, hawks, coyotes (please help yourselves to some of the squirrels, guys) and crows.
An owl perches on the eaves occasionally and gazes at us sleepily. The first time we saw him he waited solemnly while the kids and I scrambled for some nature books in an attempt to identify him (a barn owl, we think).
A snake and a toad engaged in a fight to the death on our driveway. The snake had the toad by the leg and the toad kept trying to hop away. We watched for a while and then went inside for lunch; never did find out who won because they were gone when we came back out. Maybe the owl got both of them.
A group of raccoons had a "bachelor party" in our attic for a few nights; did you know you can catch them in a (humane) trap baited with marshmallows?
Every spring one or two nutty birds (maybe they're cuckoos?) hurl themselves repeatedly into our windows, leaving behind sticky deposits of feathers and poop.
Several colossal spiders have given us some detailed lessons in web-building and bug-catching.
We've had carpenter bees, carpenter ants, Karen and Richard Carpenter... no wait, that's not right.
Our neighbors have a koi pond. They swear that the koi eat mosquito larvae and those are tadpoles floating on the surface, but I refuse to believe that tadpoles are making their way to our yard to bite us repeatedly.
Meanwhile, every dog within a one mile radius jumps its invisible fence to hang out in our yard. But so far we seem to have had no takers for our lovely, rent-free bat house.
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