Wildlife Preserve

Wildlife in our area is abundant. I kind of like, but it can be annoying when taking our dog for a walk. She LOVES to chase rabbits and will try to pull your arm off to get to the rabbits. I have learned that ice cold water squirted at her will get her to break focus on the rabbit and continue walking. Lately, I've noticed other wildlife besides rabbits. I've dodged toads, which if they would just stand still and let us pass wouldn't freak me out or my dog. You see, I have to walk her when it's dark because that's the coolest. The other day we had a close encounter with the masked kind. As we were walking along I heard a sound that sounded like either an identifying call or a "back off" call. Turns out, clutching to the side of a tree was a raccoon. Maggie and I made a wide arc around the tree (Maggie never saw where the noise was coming from, so it freaked her out) and continued on our walk. When we made our second pass, I made a point to cross the street and walk as far away from the animal as possible.

Okay, so I'm checking on the mail for my sister and feeding the stray cat that she's been taking care of for awhile. So, last night I went over there after I took our dog, Maggie, for a walk. Of course her front porch lights are off so it's pretty dark. I managed to unlock the door and turned the porch lights on. I went in and got the cat's food ready. While it was heating up in the microwave, I walked out to get the mail. As I opened the door, a black cat tore off of the porch scaring me half to death. I returned to the house to get the food and water. Upon returning to the porch, I was greeted by a masked marauder slinking off of the porch. I'm sure he was thinking the same thing as me, "Holy Buckets!" I very loudly told him to back away from the porch which he did immediately and went to cling to the Hackberry tree. As I turned the corner, his partner in crime was slinking off the other end of the porch. Now these raccoons were quite small, so my first thought was, "Where's the mother?" If the babies are here then she can't be too far away. After making sure that she was no where to be found, I put out the food and water for the cat.

As soon as I'd made sure that everything was in order I left. I had to turn off the porch light because it's not normally on so that meant it was really dark when I left. I set the alarm and walked out the front door saying, "Okay. Wait until I leave to return to the porch." However, they must have been hungry little buggers because the one that shimmied up the tree was in the process of returning to the porch. Freaked me out again.

After my experience with the raccoon in my neighborhood, I was wary about the two on the porch. It turned out well, but I called my dad to encourage him to bring a flashlight when he came to get the mail. No more close encounters with the masked, fury kind.