Thursday, December 10, 2015

DISTANT DAYS, AND CRITTERS




Somehow  the days seem distant, lingering on the edge of an indistinct reality - somewhere beyond the trees, in the shadows of the mountain.

Late at night, in the abstract solace after midnight, thick fog creeps in and lingers until mid-morning. In the pinkish haze of a December dawn the fog casts illusions of drifting light outside my bedroom window. I lie in bed half-awake, watching the subtle colors of mists tinted by an unseen rising sun: ever-changing pastels of faded peach and blushing coral, pulsing over the landscape like the warm remembrance of a long-ago lover's kiss.

Holy crap, Jon - you're too damn good to be wasting your time writing in a blog.

These are only rank preliminaries, Kemo Sabe. I'm saving the good stuff for future endeavors. 

The days are annoyingly short. Dawn arrives somewhere around 7:00 and by 3:00 the distant sun is already sinking behind mountain peaks. Daylight disappears before 4:30.

Temperatures have turned mild again - near 60 during the day (that's Fahrenheit). The nights are chilly.

 Taken at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. The sun is WAY south.....

Last night around 2:00 a.m. I opened the back door and my eldest feline Scratch darted out. I've been letting her wander outside during the day but never at night. She leaped (leapt?) off the back porch and came face to face with a large 'possum.
(I prefer to call it an opossum, but - what the hell - I'm in the wilds of Hickville).

This is the 'possum that resides under my back porch - - and it's the same 'possum that got into my house once through the clothes dryer vent.

My resident 'possum seems to be mild-mannered but he's a lot bigger than Scratch and has much sharper teeth. A close encounter could get very ugly.

I yell for Scratch to come in. She goes under the porch. Brilliant idea. If the 'possum goes under there, a brawl could ensue.

So, I keep Mr. 'Possum at bay with a broom until Scratch decides to finally come out and go back into the house.
This kills the better part of an hour.

I managed to snap a few pics of Poss.

    He's not demonic. The glowing eyes are from the camera flash. Here's the same picture lightened:


Wanna hear more wilderness adventures?

Sure, why not, Jon? You're irresistible. 

Today I brought in some plastic storage drawers that I had in the garage. They were securely shut and sealed with masking tape. 
Two of the drawers contained a large array of packaged seeds that I was going to plant next spring.
The other drawer contained some bars of soap.

Something - undoubtedly mice - managed to get into the sealed drawers. They ripped open the packets and ate all (and I mean ALL) of the seeds....
AND
they ate most of the soap!!!
Holy shit, I couldn't make this stuff up.

The only thing left was shredded paper from the seed packages.

  I had all the packets neatly placed in rows. This is what I found.

 Shredded paper - not a seed in sight.


You gotta see my new Creepy Claus post at this link:
Cabinet of Curious Treasures  

24 comments:

  1. holy crap! seeds AND soap? that would kill a mortal man!

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    1. They must have been damn hungry. I couldn't believe the soap!!!

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  2. Mice love soap! When I had my cabin in the woods, there was a bar of soap in a drawer and it was gnawed on a lot.

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    1. Long ago, when I was a little kid, one of our neighbors had a mouse that ate Ex-Lax and it pooped all over.
      I never knew that they liked soap.

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  3. Sorry to hear about the seeds and soap! That possum is creepy and I'd be evicting him. *shudder*

    Scratch is either brave or has no sense of self preservation...LOL. I do so enjoy your blog posts Jon. They always keep me entertained and I always enjoy the pictures. :)

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    1. The creepiest part of a 'possum is the tail. It makes the creature look like a gigantic rat. My cat Scratch isn't brave - - I'm sure she's blissfully oblivious of all the dangers that lurk in the wilderness.

      I'm delighted to know that you enjoy my blog. The majority of my readers never bother to comment, so I have no clue what they're thinking.

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  4. You don't have time to get lonely way up wonder in the mountains with so many critters entertaining you.

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    1. I never initially realized that I would be sharing this place with so many undesirable creatures.

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  5. I had a mice problem in a small office trailer. Heard that Irish Spring soap would repel mice, so I placed several bars around the office. They ate the Irish Spring and left mint green droppings in its place.

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    1. That is funny! Irish Spring used to be my favorite soap - but I haven't seen it anywhere lately (perhaps it's not popular in redneck country....).

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  6. Well if you're going to have mice, it's good that they eat healthily with lots of veggies and that they have good personal hygiene! Possum's are a bit creepy to me. I saw several when we lived in California. They seemed gentle (and slow of course) but that tail is awful... too rat like for my liking.

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    1. I'll never know how they got into those drawers which were so securely sealed. They certainly had a healthy feast (well, all except for the soap).
      'Possums do seem to be passive and non-confrontational, but they are kind of creepy.

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  7. Well, now, you need to look out for a crittur that clearly has severe indigestion. Follow the soap bubbles......

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    1. They must have been extremely hungry. I'll keep a sharp lookout for bubbles.....

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  8. You always come up with such quirky and incredible tales! One reason I love your blog.

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    1. I initially thought I wouldn't have anything to write about here in the wilderness. I was wrong!

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  9. Never fear, within a week we'll have reached the shorted daylight days of the year. Critters aplenty reminds me of my childhood home, where bullsnakes thrived under the steps and lynx screamed at night. Now a city dweller, I rather envy you.

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    1. Actually, I love the peace and privacy. I really don't mind the critters - but I wouldn't want bullsnakes.

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  10. Jon,
    Wow, some adventures for you in your wilderness. I don't like these short days either. Thank goodness we only have a week to go until the days start getting longer (first day of winter) again. Watch out for the baby possums in the spring!
    Ron

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    1. The days are much shorter here than in Texas. I keep forgetting that I'm now 1,000 miles further east.
      Baby 'possums in the spring?!?!?? Holy crap!!!!

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  11. That's a fine-looking 'possum! We get a few here and they always seem a little embarrassed. Maybe it's that tail. If we could fit them with furry tail-wigs it might help.

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    1. I like the idea of furry tail-wigs. That's hilarious!!

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  12. I think possums are adorable. With those cure little pink noses and little pink paws... (Then again, what do I know? I think moles are adorable, too.)

    Sounds like you have very health-conscious mice. The ate seeds for fiber, and then did a colon cleanse. Very popular behavior these days.

    Whatever you do this weekend, I hope you have a wonderful birthday. We were hoping to go to the theater and see a musical called "Christmas Canteen." It's done like a WWII USO show. We saw the first performance of the show twenty years ago, and I've wanted to go back ever since. We couldn't get tickets for this weekend, but got 'em for next. So maybe it'll be a week-long celebration?

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  13. If nothing else, possums seem to be docile and quiet. I don't mind him (her?) being around. The mice actually saved me the trouble of planting a garden next spring. I hope the soap didn't ruin their healthy feast.

    The "Christmas Canteen" sounds like a wonderfully appropriate birthday present for December. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. And there's no reason why you shouldn't celebrate for a week.

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