Tag: danger

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I Refuse To Sleep With A Small Furry Rodent!~

One mouse in the house
Two mice in the garage
Three mice in the barn

 

It was two AM on Tuesday. I woke up to the cats boisterously running through the hallway and sliding into the bedroom.  They bumped into the bed, the walls, and the vertical blinds. I rolled over and drifted back to sleep.

Michael sat up and started talking, “I wonder what’s going on?”

Without looking I muttered, “They’re just playing behind the vertical blinds”

Michael crawled out of bed and carefully stepped in front of the bed, searching the shadows.  “No! Something’s up.”

He came around my side of the bed and flipped on the light. “Look at Sano?”

I sat up and Sano was sitting all pretty and proud with a mouse dangling from his mouth.

“It’s fake!” I muttered and tried to lie back down.

“No, that is real” Michael laughed and Sano nodded his head so the mouse, who was being held by his tail, swung upward  then came down and was hit against the rug.

 Sano’s eyes narrowed; when Tomoe walked up to him and sniffed the mouse, which I need to point out was very much alive. Then Sano growled.

Tomoe glared at Sano as if she wanted to smack him. Michael immediately told me to do something about that growl.

Sorry, I have had one too many mice dropped on my chest while I slept. I am not fond of the critters.  To show how much of a chicken I am, I pulled the covers over my head and told Sano to stop growling and take the mouse to his brothers, downstairs.

Instead Sano dropped the mouse. The mouse ran in a circle. Tomoe hates getting bitten so she stood a healthy distance away and just watched.

Sano played with the very fat grey and white mouse like he was playing a pinball game. He wouldn’t allow the mouse to run under the dressers, but he did let him disappear under the bed.  The one I was cowering on.

I jumped out of bed and ran in a circle flapping my arms yelling at Michael, “Get that mouse out of the bedroom!” Then I headed out into the hall and called Kenshin and PJ.  They recognized my frantic, Oh my!  A mouse is in the house!  Hysterical call and ran up the stairs to see what they were missing.

With the two older males now trying to find the mouse, I crawled back under the covers. Tomoe crouched on the edge of the bed, hanging over the side and stared at the floor and at Sano, who was carefully scooting out backwards from under the bed.

Michael muttered something I couldn’t understand. So I peeked out from beneath the blanket.  He held Sano up for me to see. Sano had that mouse clenched in-between his teeth and once more swinging by its tail.  Michael held Sano over the waste basket, and asked Sano to “drop it” -the mouse- into the wastebasket. Michael had to repeat his request three times before Sano opened his jaws and the fat mouse plopped into the plastic bag.

Sano was confused as to where his mouse went to and searched franticly with Kenshin and PJ’s help under and around the bed. Tomoe kept an eye on Michael and followed him out if the bedroom.

At this point, that mouse was out of my sight and I hoped Michael had given him a first class ticket to the moon…

Or, maybe toss him out the door.

The last mouse that was tossed out the door had been caught in a sticky mouse trap.  Michael was afraid the cats would get into the garbage and get stuck in the glue. So he had chucked that sticky mess out the door.  He figured on scraping it off the grass in the morning.  Instead it landed right in the path of a coyote.  Yapping loudly, that coyote raced across the fields with a rectangular piece of plastic and a struggling mouse stuck to his nose…

Picture from word clip art..
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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling

Chainsaws, Tractors, Or Woodpeckers! So Hard To Choose!~

The past few days the weather has been up and down, sideways and in circles.

 Last night we had pouring rain, thunder and dangerous lightening.  During the first part of that storm I was outside, walking as close to the house as I could get, while I tried to encourage Uriah to do his business in a hurry. Nothing hurries Uriah. I stood back and watched the dark sky light up emphasizing the jagged edges of the high Cumulonimbus clouds. A rolling rumble vibrated underneath my feet and still Uriah sniffed at the edge of the Blue Spruce, unperturbed. It was only when I told him to get in the house that he started to whine. He hates thunderstorms, but Uriah’s idea of safety during a storm is to stand out in the open and stare up into the electrified sky.

On Sunday, when the path was still a path, severe winds blew over a tree.   Fortunately I wasn’t out there when it happened. I never made it though the back yard, even attempting to make my way to the back path was impossible. The winds were irritatingly loud!  I couldn’t see past my hair, no matter how hard I tried, and at one point I thought I saw Miss Gulch pedaling over head, followed closely by that Pheasant, and That Rat. With each step I fought to move forward.  I could have tied a rope to Uriah and flew him like a kite.  Alright, a fat, pudgy unhappy kite…

Today the path is underwater and the air is so heavy I was feeling out of sorts, dizzy, sneezing, and hard to breathe I am moving very, very slow. On the bright side the toads are croaking loudly and the mosquitoes are out and biting.  Hmmm!

Back to the tree!  In order for me to remove that tree I will need to use the tractor, and ‘she’ is still asleep covered in blankets in the barn. 

I stood back and paced out the distance from the beginning of the path to the downed tree, sixty steps. Not good! Last year we had a tree fall over and it was only a fraction of the distance, and a forth the size. Taking the tractor in that area would set me up for disaster with all that soft wet mud under the large wheels. If I stood in the mud I would sink in. If I add a tractor with spinning wheels and an idiot driving (me) … Well, the tractor will sink deep in the mud, and at that point I will need to call someone in to pull it out.

Still I stood there and thought about it…

If I used the tractor I will need a very long chain that I can connect to the tree, and the tractor. All the while crossing my fingers, that both will hold  on the first attempt.  They never do! One side or both will slip off and have to be reconnected, while I’m left standing in the thick black, oozing mud.

I considered leaving the tree and cutting a path around it..hmmm! I have a chain saw, sort of.  Michael hid it somewhere,  so that idea  might not work.

Today isn’t the day to work out the technicalities, too much water and a lack of diesel, and a hidden chainsaw.

Last resort… Woodpeckers!  Eventually they would pound holes in that tree allowing it to fall apart. I’m voting for the birds.

 In the meantime, Uriah walked around the tree…

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Poem…I Was A Perfect Stuffed Monkey~

I was a perfect stuffed monkey

Reddish fur with a beige tummy

face and feet

Until an animal got to me

Now, I lie here without arms, legs or ears

Even my tail was chewed off…

Maybe it was coyote

A raccoon

A fox

or possibly… a skunk  

Could have been that rat

                                    That rat

That steals Uriah’s food and rawhide bones

                                    That rat

that digs the holes around the kennel

under the garden, and

tunnels alongside the horseradish plant

One day the hawk will come by, and sit

Quietly on the railing

waiting for that rat to make a mistake

when he is dancing

on the top of the kennel

Just under the floor boards of the deck

He will scramble up

to look in the kitchen window

at that point, the hawk will strike…

And that rat will be no more

To late for me, I lie here without arms,

or legs, and ears… even my tail is gone

I have all the time in the world

To wonder

Now what..?

Check out everyone at Jingles Thursday poets rally-

http://jingleyanqiu.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/thursday-poets-rally-week-11-march-24-30-2010/

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Nature photos Nature Writing Poetry Writers Site

Something Was In The Fog~Or, Take Bets On Who Pees First!~

This happened two nights ago…

It was only eight o’clock at night. I needed to bring Uriah inside. He was still outside in his kennel.  

A couple hours earlier I tried to coax Uriah in the house. But he wanted to sit outside. With the sun setting, coyotes would be coming closer to the house, so I locked him inside his kennel.

It was time to bring him inside. I flicked on the outside light and without waiting for the light to come on I stepped out the garage door.  I was met by a wall of darkness. I looked down at my hands and could barely see them. A heavy fog had settled in close to the ground, which caused a curtain of blackness to fall over everything. Silence assaulted my senses. For a second I contemplated going back into he house until the lights came on.  I shook off the uneasy feeling and clutched my ski pole.  

I walked forward, then turned to the right and headed around the back of the house towards the dog kennel. I hesitated again! The silence was over powering! I called to Uriah. He didn’t answer.  I looked up at the light; it was taking its time turning on. Maybe the dampness or the cold air was the reason.  Or maybe I was being paranoid!  It takes time for that light to heat up.  I couldn’t hear anything moving around out there in the dark. But something felt wrong.

I laughed off a trickle of fear and called to Uriah. He didn’t make a sound. Something else did in that heavy darkness! An odd, growl and movement, then the sound of a branch breaking came from the direction of the apple trees.

I stopped and peered into the foggy blackness. Silence! A deep heavy silence!  

I told myself, if there was something out there I should be able to hear it again and there wasn’t a sound anywhere around me.

“Hey Uriah! I really think I should have waited for the light to come on.”  He didn’t answer me.  I knew he was alright, I was talking to him through the window earlier; as it got colder I closed the window and watched him as he stared out into the yard.

I shuffled to the kennel door, opened it. Uriah stood there watching me but didn’t make a move to leave.

I stood at the open door and waved at him to leave.  “Come on! You have to come inside!” 

Uriah turned away from me and stared out into the yard towards the apple trees. He was pacing in place.

I turned and looked out over the wall of blackness. A chill ran up my spine and I fought the urge to step into the kennel with Uriah and close the door. Not a smart move! I would be locked outside, not inside the house.

Then I just made a bad mistake!  I allowed fear to creep around me…

Animals can smell fear. Uriah came up to me and leaned against my leg. Great! He was nervous too…

“Ok, here’s the plan. We walk out of here. You pee! We get into the house fast! Just pretend we don’t think anyone is watching us.”

Brave Uriah whimpered and looked out towards the apple trees, again..

I muttered. “That’s not helping!”

 I coaxed Uriah out of the kennel. He stayed as close  to me as he could get -behind me and under my coat.  I didn’t like this situation…

Then I got mad…

“Alright! Whoever is out there, get the hell out of my yard!”  Uriah perked up immediately and walked in front of me and wagged his tail.

Then I heard a clinking sound, similar to tags on a dog collar. I thought I was imagining that sound.  But Uriah’s head turned to the sound as fast as I had. It came from the apple trees…

I yelled out into the darkness and stepped forward. “Uriah are you going to pee now?”  Then I turned towards the driveway and started to walk.

Uriah followed. I stopped, he urinated and we slowly waked back to the garage.

I kept thinking. “I am not afraid!” Still, I could feel that tickle of fear creep up again. Fear is one scent I really didn’t want to send that out into the yard.  Once an animal catches a whiff of fear, he will attack. I was so glad there wasn’t a wind and we were nearly in the house. And I wasn’t sure what type of animal was out there watching..

Uriah pushed past me and was inside before I had the door fully open.

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Nature photos Nature Writing Poetry video Writers Site

Spring Is Trying Real Hard To Find Its Way To Illinois!~Lovely Skunk Perfume:-)

A fog rolled in over night and hung on through the morning, the sky a grayish white that shifted downwards and covered everything. As I walked around the back path, I stopped and listen to the birds. They were heralding in spring.

Rains had started yesterday so the ground had a mushy soft coating like frosting on a cake and ice hard underneath.

I side stepped muskrat holes, coyote and raccoon scat.

 This is a muskrat hole I have been avoiding all winter, still the snow hangs on around it…

As I headed back home I hesitated along the northern section and tried to pull out movement in the underbrush. Two days ago, when I walked this same area I stepped into a cloud of skunk perfume. I gagged and blinked, Uriah who had been right  behind me, slowly backed up and grimaced, then took off on a run, back towards the house.

Chicken!

I really wish I could move that fast.

Luckily the spray didn’t hit me directly so I was able to smell and taste within the hour.

Michael kept coming up to me all night and sniffing, then asking if I smell a skunk….

Today I didn’t see or smell a skunk. But the birds were in full song, especially the Black birds! The cardinals live in the trees near the house. The past few days the geese have been flying low, honking and filling the sky with their V shaped formations. I pulled out my camera and started video taping the birds. I edited them, and added a short poem.

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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

What Does This Shape Look Like To You~No I’m Not Sneeking in a Rorschach Test~ Or Am I?~

Good Morning!  First picture: just before Uriah went outside we had an early morning visitor.  This picture was taken off the video I shot through the window. A bit blurry, but the coyote didn’t want to stand still.  He was hunting.

The second was taken when I opened the kitchen door to check on Uriah. Notice the screen has seen some better days. The cats heard Uriah moving around outside.
I find this very weird; if you look closely at the second and third picture you can see a reflection in the window, and orange spot. It is an orange bag of Iams cat food- what does it look like to you?
The third picture, the only cat that was interested in Uriah was Sano. The other two were irritated he scared off the birds. They didn’t stick around to watch him; they headed to a different window.
In the fourth picture, I was ready to download pictures when Sano decided Uriah was worth talking to. I wonder what they are saying to each other?
*
Just for fun I found a Rorschach test on line
I took it twice. The first time My sickness Quotient was 68%- I was insulted so I took it again and told the truth. Ahhh! 99% much better!!
Sickness Quotient: 99%
WARNING: Your Sickness Quotient of 99% is very disturbing.
 
Here’s the link have fun.
http://theinkblot.com/
 
Categories
Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

Winter Is Holding On As Cartoon Birds Run Through The Trees “D’oh!” ~

Yesterday, the temperatures rose high enough that the snow became heavy and started to thaw, just enough to become slippery and wet.

Twenty-four hours later, today.  The snow was solid and slick with chucks of sharp ice. 

The snow was so hard Uriah’s paws slid as he walked across the top without breaking through. Instead he slipped and fell.  He was not amused!   I tromped over to him, allowing my weight to break the top layer of snow.  I moved slowly to where Uriah sat. He looked irritated at the smooth, white snow stretching out in front of him. 

Stabbing my ski poles into the snow on either side of Uriah, I tried to slide him off the top of the snow bank, onto the area I packed down. When he was back on his feet/paws, Uriah glanced back at the tree he had been heading for, for a second he hesitated, sighed and made an odd grumbling, growling sound. 

If Uriah had fingers I bet he would have flipped the bird at that snow bank. 

Uriah made a half hearted attempt to walk behind me, then he decided to walk next to me, on that snow covered frozen path.

As we walked the sky cleared and a deep, purplish blue sat on the horizon to the east.  I stopped and looked straight up. The sky was slightly hazy grey. Some low clouds moved above me, giving me a closed in feeling.

The air held an odor of pond water, fishy and green smelling.  As I headed along the path a sweet, bitter smell of smoke curled around me until I reached the far back. At that point, the path turns to the north and rounds out and heads back west, towards the house. Just then, the wind picked up blowing in from the north-east, and pushed away the burning campfire smell.  The air changed, I could smell cows, manure and hay.

As far as I could see, the snow covered the fields. A pattern of colors and lines weaved in and out. I looked towards the farmer’s barn; I could see cows walking slowly and dark earth pushing up between snow drifts.  Grey ice covered the lower areas, frosted and untouched by the slightly warmer air.  

Uriah and I reached some heavy bushes; we walked underneath them instead of around. A tiny, black headed bird, complained at our intrusion. Uriah nudged my pocket I stopped and broke a milk bone in half and handed it to him. He was happily crunching away when a stick snapped next to us, we both turned to the right.

Not more than a foot away from us was that Pheasant! His neck was stretched up high. Light grey with a dark blackish blue ring around his neck. He looked startled and scared, and he slowly backed away from us, then turned and flew into the taller trees. He missed the first branch and then started running towards the Bog Willows. He ran into a tree trunk flapping and scooting around until he disappeared into the trees. 

 Picture a very stupid cartoon bird!

All this took no more than a couple of minutes, both Uriah and I watched him with our mouths open, Uriah forgot his biscuit. I forgot my camera…

Insert, heavy sigh, rolling eyes, slap on forehead and Homer Simpson’s “D’oh!”

Uriah looked at me. I shrugged and he made a half hearted move to chase the bird.  He took a couple of steps, then changed his mind and continued eating his biscuit.

Winter around here won’t end until April, if we are lucky.

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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

Clouds, Blue sky, Ice, Snow and Bright Green Pajamas ~What A Great Day For A Walk!~

Early this morning, as I stepped outside, I realized that I forgot my camera. I crossed my fingers that Sano wouldn’t find the camera case with that dangling strap and drag it under the bed. After a few moments I didn’t care about the camera. I was having a hard time seeing. Even though the sky was a white-white- grey, I couldn’t see!  I was blinded by the bright white snow. I looked straight up and saw the clouds part above me exposing a blue sky and allowing the sun to reflect off the surrounding clouds. Snow blind in the middle of my yard…

Uriah was very happy; he raced around me and kept looking at my pockets. I nearly tripped over him. He acted like I was playing and tried to race around me that lasted a whole minute. He is getting older.

“Come on, Uriah! Let’s just walk. I can’t see!” I reached out trying to grab the air. “Stop trying to trip me!”

Uriah sat down to watch me. I blinked and tried to clear my eyes. It didn’t work. I gave up and shielded my eyes with my hand, and slowly walked into a snow drift. Snow poured over the top of my boots. I dusted it away and kept walking.

 Just as I reached the path, Uriah raced off into the trees. First I heard the deep squawking, and then I watched that elusive Pheasant fly awkwardly between the trees.  No camera, again! Heavy Sigh!

Later that afternoon we headed out again, this time I remembered the camera. The clouds had cleared, and the sky was a Cornflower blue. Instead of going around to the back, I wanted to see the pond in front. I believe it was January we had a thaw that inundated the land with water. During the past few weeks the water has evaporated and left ice connected to tree trunks, similar to a picnic table on top and Stalactites forming underneath.

I carefully stepped into the deep snow surrounding the pond, and felt the ice give way under my boots. I eased as close as I could to the ponds edge, trying to judge where I thought that edge should be. Stupid? Yes I am!  I didn’t get that close. Besides I was wearing my normal walking garb, a bright orange coat, grey knit hat, while dragging around ski poles. Almost forgot to add, I didn’t have on my normal blue jeans.  So the people passing on the road, there weren’t a lot of cars, saw me wearing my flannel bright green PJs, with a design of coffee cups and candy pieces.

 I looked fabulous! Just like an escapee from psych ward.    

I didn’t slip onto the frozen pond, nor did I get stuck in the deep snow. Not for the lack of trying by Uriah. He kept trying to see around me, without walking around me.  Instead he pushed me closer to the pond. I won that game by sitting in the snow. Uriah gave up and chased a rabbit he found. That didn’t last very long, the rabbit took off to the south, and Uriah ran to the north…

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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

I walked towards the apple trees and decided the snow, which was making farting noises with each step, wasn’t amusing. My husband would find the humor in it! ~

Last night the snow started. I stood outside under driveway light and watched the misty rain change to snow as it fell. The blacktop was coated within minutes, a slippery mess only Uriah hazarded to walk across. The air was filled with dampness, and fog from the frozen ground and warmer air.  Even with the heavy darkness blanketing the house, sound wasn’t muffled and I could hear the coyotes racing across the farm fields, closing in on us.

“Uriah, hurry up and pee! We have to get inside!” I held tightly to my ski poles and tried to peer into the darkness. 

Uriah moved slowly, his arthritis was acting up with the dampness. Still, his hackles rose when we heard the howling start. He puffed his chest out and scraped at the ground with his back legs.

“Ok! You’re a big, brave dog! Let’s get inside!”

Uriah turned and raced into the open garage door. All bark and no bite…

This morning, everything was covered in bridal white.

Heart attack snow covered the driveway and deck. It’s the snow that one small shovel full can make a weight lifter grunt. The snow thrower will have a hard time with this mess.  Underneath was a grey slush, which will strain both me and the snow thrower. I walked down the drive to the road, where the snow plow had sprayed extra snow on the mouth of the driveway. I kicked at it and decided we are snowed in till spring.

The deck had about four to six inches of snow waiting to melt into the outside kennel. Uriah and I checked it out. I was able to kick around a four by four foot patch so it didn’t drip on Uriah’s head. The rest will be a waterfall if the temperatures keep rising, which according to the weatherman, the warm-up isn’t here, yet.

Notice the large pile of snow on the outside of his kennel. That should melt in mid-summer.:-)

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Nature Writing

Winters Bite Can Really Hurt~

I lost all feeling in my fingers by the time I reached the beginning of the back path.

I was hoping the water was still running strong. Then this walk would be cut short and I could slip back into the warm house.  

The water looked solid…  Darn!

 I used my ski pole and poked at the ice at my feet. Today the air was dry,  Mother Nature pulled the moisture out of the ground, leaving some of the ice hollow underneath.

I watched as Uriah stepped gingerly on the ice. He turned and looked at me. I could hear his thoughts. “See!  I didn’t break through. It’s strong enough! Come on!”

I shrugged and started my slow shuffle over the slick ice. 

Deciding I was too slow, Uriah came back to see what was taking me so long.

I tried waving at him to stop.

He didn’t listen.

 I tried to baby talk him away…“No, no walk up ahead of me. Uriah don’t stand next to me!”

He just stopped and stared. First at my forehead, then at my pockets, he was hoping for a biscuit. He was looking at me, when the ice popped, then cracked loudly under our feet.   All in a matter of seconds, Uriah’s eyes opened wide and looked like they would pop out of his head.  Then he looked down at his paws, and then back up at me, just as the ice gave way under him.

Luckily, for both of us the water that settled underneath was only about two inches deep. But two inches of freezing water was too much me. Uriah, at the first popping sound started moving fast!  He slipped on ahead aiming for the area with the dried grass. He knew if he stood on the grass, he wouldn’t get his feet wet.

 I wasn’t so lucky. The ice gave out under me, and only the bottom of my shoes got wet. Relieved, I laughed! And started a slow shuffled towards Uriah.

 “Nothing to worry about it’s not deep!”  Famous last words…

Ten steps in and the ice broke again. This time, the water poured into my shoes.

I hurried to reach higher ground, the dried grass, not taking in to consideration that Uriah weighed a lot less than I did.

Heavy Sigh!

Uriah glared and whined! He lifted one paw at a time up, as my added weight sucked us both down into the icy, muddy water.  The water freely poured over the top of the grass and sticks and my shoes.

Note* It wasn’t deep. If I had stood still it would have reached my ankles. *

Uriah turned away from me and raced up the path to the East. Home was to the west.

I checked on my camera. It was safely in its case hanging around my neck. My goal in coming out here today, was to take some pictures.  With that in mind, I decided to continue on my frozen walk, and I headed up the path to the east.

I was hoping to find that Pheasant hiding in the trees. My imagination was working over time as I walked.  Wet feet and frozen shoes, took my mind off my frozen fingers. At that point I pictured that Pheasant sipping a hot chocolate, with his feet up on an ottoman next to a roaring fire.

Yeap! I was hallucinating! And I would surly freeze to death under a tree.

Uriah had disappeared into the trees.

I could hear the ice cracking, in the low lying areas as I moved up the path and straight east. I tried to avoid the gentle, dangerously frozen wind, which was trying to knock my nose off.

The sun was shining brightly and the snow glittered white.  The thaw we had, a few days ago, had taken away a large portion of the snow, the rest was frozen solid. I had a hard time punching my ski poles in the snow, in a laughable attempt to stay on my feet.

I could hear the sound of a little bird, but I couldn’t see him.  Uriah gave up walking alone and came running up asking for a biscuit.

My fingers felt like they were no longer attached to the rest of my hand, as I dropped a biscuit out of my pocket.

Weather can be very deceptive and detached.   That bright sunshine and blue sky would shine down on me as I froze, sitting under a tree.  

I wanted a picture!

So I stopped and removed my gloves, and told Uriah to smile. He hid his face in the snow…

I only took a few pictures, I had to stop, because I couldn’t feel the on and off button. I slipped the camera in its case and told Uriah to run home. He took off into the trees instead.

At first I was aggravated then I realized it was probably warmer in those trees than out in the open.

 I wasn’t going to trust the ice. So I plodded forward, over the low path and ice. I stepped once more into the water. By now my shoes were ice cubes! Literally, chunks of ice!

 I hurried across the open yard!  Uriah suddenly appeared right behind me; he didn’t complain as I opened the door to the house and ordered him inside.  In my stylish ice shoes I clunked in behind him thinking, I need to toss out that Pheasant and drink his hot chocolate…