Snowflake Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Rousing possum stories yesterday. Eric, after talking to my mighty hunter husband, he has seen a possum play possum. At another time, he must have caught one in a foul mood, as it hissed at him and bared its teeth. Living in the country or not, it's always surprising to find a bit of nature on the porch. One night, before the possum scare, I brought home my boy and dog after work, in the dark. We all were in the house when we heard a crash at the back door - where the dog's tie out was. We (well, just me, I made the boy stay in the living room and the dog decided to "protect" him) went to see what the noise was and I saw the biggest raccoon I have ever seen in my life on the deck, staring back at me. My poor dog missed her 'before bed' trip outside that night, I didn't want to worry about a coon attack on my girl... She sure was ready to go out the next morning. Do you have raccoons where you are, Eric? They're cute little monsters. I have been advised to keep my dogs away from them and to never let a dog chase a coon into a pond/river/lake as the coon will get on the dog's back and force its head under water, drowning the dog... I really miss that dog... It's supposed to be in near or in the 50's tomorrow. Bring on the spring! Downside is the pollen...I love spring, but spring hates me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annette Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 We are becoming critter corner - here. The picture was not very pretty. I have seen them lying by the side of the road but I live in town and they don't usually bother us. I had a pet raccoon as a child. I remember my dad finally released "Luther" when my sister and I got so frustrated with him because he constantly wanted to "clean" our hair. He loved ice cream. That's all I remember. Home from work getting ready to go to the hospital. Thankfully they took my nephew off the respirator last night so things are looking up. He is still very incoherent but somehow seems to know he is in big trouble. Another beautiful day here - could sure do with a few less dramas! Annette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaminkw Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Morning All! My goodness, I missed a lot since yesterday morning. I will have to go back and read. Annette, I gather an accident or something but I'll go back for details. I hope your nephew will be o.k. Your poor mother. And you too of course, I know that #### rolls down hill. We used to have racoons galore here. They are adorable but mean and messy. We one time had them in the roof of the house and they dumped water that came down thru a light fixture. You could hear them running back and forth at night. My husband trapped them for awhile but then Wilma, the hurrican of the BIG flood came along and now not so many. Am still feeling decent on just 50 mg Taxol XL and no Elanipril. Don't know if I mentioned but it seems my lethargy was low bp again. It's really low again this morning but expect it will go up to a reasonable level by mid morning. Have a great day everyone. I need to go read yesterday's Air. Judy in KW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilyjohn Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Good morning everyone. The sound of the rain woke me this morning. Have to admit I lay there for a while just listening to it. I like the sound of a gentle rain and we need it so it is ok. I don't have to drive in it so I can say that. When I lived in Louisiana our biggest animal problem were Armadillos. They would dig up everything in the yard but the only thing that ever got in the house was a rat. A real one Becky. Denis put a trap with a piece of pecan and caught it right away. It was a big one and gave me the creeps thinking of it running around in my house. When I was little we lived on a creek bank and had a snake in the house. Now believe me that was the worse. It was over the fridge wrapped around a spice rack. Mama saw it and yelled for my sister in law Sherrell to get a stick, We were already outside but Mama stayed in, well she got a stick about 2 feet long By the time we got a bigger stick it was gone and we never saw it again. Not sure what happened to it. We had a lot of deer in our yards up in French Gulch and last week while at my nephew's house they had about 10 deer in there back lot. One time a neighbor up in French Gulch, she lived further up than me, woke to a noise and found a bear in her house I asked her what she did and she said she just started yelling and waving her hands and it ran out. Now if that had been me I would have dived out the window and chocked it to death with the dust I turned up on my way by. Hope everyone is feeling better. Knock on wood so far I have been well. I attribute that to no heat at night and fresh air. Well fitness time even though it is not in the moonlight. Just do a few stretches and dance a little. If I don't do it early I won't do it at all. We have our sewing group today and later Bible study so I will be busy most of the day. Stay warm and stay dry all and have a great day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bud Baker Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Good morning, everyone! It was 64 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 78. The south wind has really been tough this week, a reminder that the stretch from February to April is the windiest time of year here. Annette, so much for our optimism about your nephew. I hope he recovers ok. Morning break is just about over. I need to find a place to hide. Maybe I'll just play possum. Have a great day, all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joppette Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hi everyone! Well this is what you get when you get two people from the country in Michigan. Lots of creature stories. LOL! And both our husbands hunt, so even more stories. K, Becky, you opened a can or worms when you did the raccoon story. I have a great one. Our last home was in the country too, but kind of a tiny neighborhood. Fenced in back yard. German Short Hair with a dog door to let herself in and out. Dog's name: Hazel. We wake up to the sound of a horrific coon fight, but the fight was with Hazel and a 50 pound coon. Randy runs below the deck and pulls Hazel off the coon, and drags her up the steps to the upper deck. I was crying and carrying on because I thought the coon was going to kill her. He brings the dog to me and yells "Hang on tight to her, don't let go!" He runs down to shoot the animal. In the meantime Hazel wrenches out of my grip and goes after it again. Again, remove, yell, shoot coon. Took about 4 shots to do it. Throw coon in swamp, go to bed. Half hour later, phone rings. Kent County Sheriff. I answer. They ask if I'm ok. Yes. Come out on your front porch now. NOW? NOW! Randy thought I was pulling his leg, and I'm like, no, they are out in our yard, and we have to go out. It was dark in the yard, but as soon as we opened the front door, BAM, our house was lit up like a Christmas tree, and the flashers came on about 8 cruisers. There were cops everywhere with guns drawn. Someone called 9-1-1 and reported a woman crying, and gun shots. They thought Randy shot me! Told them the story, and they wanted to see the dead raccoon. "It's in the swamp". Anyway, we were the talk of the neighborhood for a while! LOL K, now I'll go back and read. Judy in MI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaminkw Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Morning break is just about over. I need to find a place to hide. Maybe I'll just play possum. Have a great day, all! LOLWow, Judy, that is a major critter event! My rat story that Lily reminded me of can't top that but I think Becky might enjoy it. Becky, my first date with Stan when I was 17, he dressed the redneck up in a cordrouy suit and a dress shirt. He borrowed his uncle's car and took me to dinner. Fast forward a couple of years. We're living in our first house, a tiny old WWII barracks moved to a dead end street out of town and converted to a little 2BR house. I'm screaming one day that there is a rat in the cubboard. It happeded to be the one we kept the kitchen trash can in. Stan grabbed his shotgun and blew it away right in the kitchen cubboard. OMG, I was appalled but it was only the beginning....LOL Critter stories? I'll save Wendy and my bat story for another time. Going to take a boat ride. Yeah! Judy in KW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric byrne Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hi All, Just going out,I am bowling to-night at 8.30pm session,thought Id pop in for a quicky,what a lot of animal crackers(in my soup).Theres so much going on,snowflake no sadly Scotland dosnt have raccoons,not even seen one in a zoo,Iam going to meet some wild life when I arrive arent I,lesser spotted red necks,animals as well it seems.Weve got rats,snakes and bears,.Judy,you got me,police,swat teams,loadhailers,flood lights, this post today could become a Hollywood blockbuster,all we need now is Bruce to arrive on scene sitting on a Llamas back singing Tony Christie's "Show me the road to Armadillo",you are right hav'nt seen one of these either.Hope I can bowl tonight, as well as you lot post,see you 11pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowflake Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 JUDY! (MI), I was crying about mid story, I was laughing so hard, and the cops to top it all off? You really should send that story in to the Blue Collar boys, maybe they'll pay you for usage... "If you've ever been called onto the porch by a SWAT team for shootin' a dang coon, you might be a redneck..." Sooooo many critter stories: Years ago, my aunt lived in a big farmhouse, the kind with the creepy cellar with the access being the big double doors outside the house going underground. One night, she heard a noise in the cupboard under the sink, and being someone with experience of mice, thought it sounded a bit bigger than that. She opened the cupboard door and slammed it shut, having come face to face with a hissing possum! She yells to my uncle, he loads the shotgun and shoots it, right there. What a mess! You would think that after the bat, she'd know better than to ask his help, they had a bat flying around the living room and my uncle discharged the shotgun (into the walls) three times to kill the little guy... ...and then there's the skunks... Eric, you really need to take a side trip and make sure you go to a zoo while you're here and check out the native species. OMG, STILL laughing, Judy! Too bad it wasn't caught on tape for "Cops"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joppette Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Becky! ROFLMBO!!!!! And pulling a Jeff Foxworthy on me, with the redneck thang! Too funny!!!! Your Aunt and Uncle stories are killing me. I can just see him shooting at the bat, and the possum! Oh my goodness, I'm belly laughing now. Randy shot our house once. Our home was Cedar at the time, and the big giant wood peckers loved to poke holes in it. One day he got ticked, grabbed his shotgun and just started shooting. It was hilarious! MI Judy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ts Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Critter stories: Lived up at Lake Tahoe for awhile. We had a bat that got stuck between the sliding glass door and the screen door. I'm not sure why we couldn't just go outside and open whichever door was on the outside and let the poor thing go free. Noo, we called animal control. The guy comes into the house (okay, now I know the screen door was on the inside) and sprays the bat with mace! Yup, he is standing close enough that it ricoshays off the door and into his eyes! Poor little bat - I don't remember if he took it away or let it go. I had a kiwi plant (a series of them) but never got fruit from - never managed to have a fertile female plant at the same time as a male plant. My crazy neighbor down the block would harvest fallen fruit in the neighborhood. She brought me a brown bag of partially rotted kiwis she had picked up since my plant was bare. I left it out on the back porch overnight. I heard all this noise late that night and looked out the back door to find a snarling possum feasting on kiwi. That neighborhood had a few families of raccoons - just pretty cute up in the old willow tree, waddling down the alley, not so cute when they stole my corn and other vegetables. Previously, I used to house boat sit (really cat sit, but the cats lived on house boats - just like Sleepless in Seattle!) Coming back to the boat after dark one night, I see this animal down the dock. I call out with the name of the cat I am minding - a big ol' tabby. As I get closer, I realize I don't want to tangle with the teeth or paws of this creature - a huge raccoon. He almost made me walk off the dock, but then he ducked off and under one of the house docks. Finally, one of the houseboats was at the water end of the dock. Big sliding glass door at the front of the house, Had it open for the breeze, turned around and two ducks were wandering around in the white carpeted living room! Good thing there was carpet cleaner available! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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