Urban Wildlife

Uh huh. My horse vet will vaccinate dogs and cats just to try to keep the disease to a minimum.

No more signs of any raccoons. I guess they cleared off or are laying low.

All the equine vets I knew vaccinated are the barn critters. In fact several barns I rode at you couldn't bring your dog to the barn unless you showed proof if shots and kept the dog on a leash. Failure to do either you were asked to leave.

Yeah... Nothing makes me much more crazy than wild dogs at a boarding barn. At my barn, it's usually just Bingo. Sometimes the neighbors' poor starved St. Bernard comes over, but she's so lethargic she isn't any problem. I think she just shows up for snacks. (Thinking of calling animal control next time I see her. Put her in a stall and call.)

We saw a really cool green snake near the house today. It was pretty small (about a foot long) and BRIGHT green. Really cool little thing. I guess it's a grass snake.

The little green snake sounds cool. As to the neighbors dog, call.

Today's wildlife sighting was a bit scary. Envoy and I were riding, and a raccoon trotted through the pasture. Fortunately, it was at the other end of the field. It looked sick. I am NOT going to try to find it. Daytime raccoons make me shiver. There is definitely something not right when a raccoon is out during the day for no apparent reason.

Envoy was not really happy about it either. He just stopped and watched the thing until it was gone into the woods.

You're right that's not good. Even in an urban area, I get twitchy if I see them out and about.

Dawn, dusk, nighttime....seeing a raccoon then is okay. So far I've never seen them at any other time. It is worrying you saw one in broad daylight.

EEEK! Today's wildlife sighting was an ENORMOUS spider in the mudroom. Mouski was on the hunt, but I think that thing might have put up a good fight with a 10 pound cat. I was so freaked out, all I could do was open the door and chase it with the broom. I have no problems with spiders outside, but they are NOT to share my inside space. And, especially ones that are as big as my hand. OMG! Still shuddering...

Check your timeline.

OMG......I think I would've quietly screamed if I saw a spider that big. The stuff of my nightmares, literally.

If Bij saw a spider that big he'd be giving us the "protect me" scared mew as he was backing up to get away from it.

Mouski is fearless. The thing hasn't been back (at least I haven't seen it).

Sue, thanks.

I couldn't resist.

Couldn't resist what?

I'll send you the snap.

Thanks.....I love good pics!

Check your inbox.

EEK!!!!!! We had one of those at my old place last summer, guarding a HUGE egg sack......

They are actually polite as spiders go. I've never seen one inside. They eat a lot of mosquitoes. But, I still don't like spiders of any kind.

She was pretty neat to have around. I'm not fond of them either.

We have a guard chipmunk living near my mom's livingroom window. Had several doves, finches, and wrens eat at the seed feeder Saturday and close by on high alert was our chipmunk, sitting bolt upright like a meerkat, watching the skies for the hawk. Birds were relaxed, knowing our guard chipmunk was on the job. First but not the only time I've seen that chippie do that. Saw it doing that just this morning.

Our feeders have woodpeckers for the first time. We started using a fruit and nut bird food, and the woodpeckers love it. We have regular seed for other feeders, and so we get the finches and wrens. Every once in a while, I see a blue grosbeak.

That's really neat. Because of all the rain I haven't been able to feed on a regular schedule.

Because of all the rain here I've had to ream out the bottoms of the feeders. The seed gets wet, then solidifies so nothing comes out. Poor birds, trying so hard to get something to eat and can't.....no wonder they kept looking in the windows at us.

I've had to do that too. In fact I took my feeders down during May.

Yup. It's a once-a-month thing here unless we're REALLY dry. One year, we had a sunflower sprout in a feeder.