I need to snark for a sec.

[Carrie12345]

I’ve been isolated for so long and Dh is out of town and the one kid who would entertain my snark is asleep.

Pandemic has flooded my area with new residents. Like, dam breaking flood. Mostly from metropolitan areas. I try to retain some empathy, but I’m also getting old and snarkier, lol.

A new person on FB posted a warning that she saw a skunk while walking her dog last night.
We live in a forest. Our neighborhood, which remains mostly wooded, was carved into the middle of miles of wilderness. The thought that someone’s worried about skunks makes me worried about how they’re going to handle real spring, when the foxes, bears, bobcats, and all the other animals come out. The coyotes don’t usually come into the neighborhood, but can be spotted now and then on the outer properties, and their cries can be heard all day.

We. Live. In. The. Forest. A skunk walking around at night, minding its business is going to be the least of your concerns, lady!

 

[Katy]

Did you tell her there are skunks out every night?  Or were you able to hold your tongue?  Maybe you should put up warning signs about all the wildlife. 🦨 🦊 🐻 

[Scarlett]

34 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

I’ve been isolated for so long and Dh is out of town and the one kid who would entertain my snark is asleep.

Pandemic has flooded my area with new residents. Like, dam breaking flood. Mostly from metropolitan areas. I try to retain some empathy, but I’m also getting old and snarkier, lol.

A new person on FB posted a warning that she saw a skunk while walking her dog last night.
We live in a forest. Our neighborhood, which remains mostly wooded, was carved into the middle of miles of wilderness. The thought that someone’s worried about skunks makes me worried about how they’re going to handle real spring, when the foxes, bears, bobcats, and all the other animals come out. The coyotes don’t usually come into the neighborhood, but can be spotted now and then on the outer properties, and their cries can be heard all day.

We. Live. In. The. Forest. A skunk walking around at night, minding its business is going to be the least of your concerns, lady!

 

On our town’s FB someone reported they had seen a person dressed in all black wearing a back pack walking at 3:00 a.m.   a girl comes on and says ‘that was me I was just walking home from my friends house.  I had a couple of drinks and did not want to drive ‘.   
The rest of the very long thread was about thieves and assumptions and prejudice.  I did not see one person concerned for her safety walking home at 3 am.  
I like to stay in formed about what is going on in this town but sometimes it makes my head hurt.  

[Pawz4me]

Oh my.

I was rather rudely rendered awake yesterday morning because of smell of skunk wafting in from outside (even through the closed bedroom window). Which tends to happen a couple of times a year around this time. I bet that would cause a total freak out from skunk lady. 😉 

[PeterPan]

16 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

I did not see one person concerned for her safety walking home at 3 am.  

I had an adult friend offer to drive me home in the DAYTIME when I was in high school. I had been staying late to work on projects, and the woman didn't consider it safe to be walking roads even in the day. So yeah, that would have been awesome if your town's gossipbook page had been used for some actual good.

56 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Mostly from metropolitan areas.

I'm pretty sure you've got something you could sell them to help. Bars of anti-skunk soap to hang on their doors or something. 

[SKL]

LOL!  I've seen similar, but with coyotes.  I guess it's a tip-off that the person is a new resident.  😛

There is a place I like to walk where a cute little skunk is often seen in the evening.  I would rather we not cross paths, but I'm not exactly terrified.  😛

Edited March 10, 2021 by SKL

[Carrie12345]

43 minutes ago, Katy said:

Did you tell her there are skunks out every night?  Or were you able to hold your tongue?  Maybe you should put up warning signs about all the wildlife. 🦨 🦊 🐻 

I came here so I wouldn’t say anything there, lol. Sometimes locals get real ugly with transplants, so I try to avoid being part of the mob.

22 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

.

I'm pretty sure you've got something you could sell them to help. Bars of anti-skunk soap to hang on their doors or something. 

Now there’s an idea... lol.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I do not enjoy running into skunks (or anything else), but they’ll be waddling around with their babies soon, and that’s an adorable sight to see! 

[teachermom2834]

I used to live in a neighborhood set in the woods. Plenty of houses pretty close together but everyone’s backyard backed up to the woods. I knew a lady once who called the police because of a snake in the road. I told her the police would just toss it back in the closest yard. 
 

I’m a total city girl out of my element in the woods but even I knew the police weren’t coming out to deal with a rat snake. 

[Carrie12345]

7 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

I used to live in a neighborhood set in the woods. Plenty of houses pretty close together but everyone’s backyard backed up to the woods. I knew a lady once who called the police because of a snake in the road. I told her the police would just toss it back in the closest yard. 
 

I’m a total city girl out of my element in the woods but even I knew the police weren’t coming out to deal with a rat snake. 

Oh, jeez. I didn’t even think about snakes. We have tons of non-venomous, but also copperheads and rattlers.

[Murphy101]

Why would you presume she wasn’t safe?  I mean if someone saw her, obviously she isn’t the only one up and about at that hour.

I walk my area at all hours between 4am and midnight by myself. I usually have a light band on my leg so I’m visible to cars.  But I pop my earbuds in to listen to an audio book and go get my steps in as best I can while I can. I’ve had friends call or whatever kid need to talk at 2 am, and in a lovely night it’s good to get some fresh air along with a new perspective from someone else when life is throwing curve balls. 
I do not live in an expensive gated area or anything like that. I’d say solidly lower mostly blue collar middle class.  I’ll admit the roads and sidewalks aren’t packed between 4-6:30am or 10-2am. But I almost always come across at least 2-3 other people walking too. The only time I have ever felt uncomfortable was during the day when a guy would not quit trying to walk next to me and ask me personal questions. 

56 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

On our town’s FB someone reported they had seen a person dressed in all black wearing a back pack walking at 3:00 a.m.   a girl comes on and says ‘that was me I was just walking home from my friends house.  I had a couple of drinks and did not want to drive ‘.   
The rest of the very long thread was about thieves and assumptions and prejudice.  I did not see one person concerned for her safety walking home at 3 am.  
I like to stay in formed about what is going on in this town but sometimes it makes my head hurt. 

[Selkie]

That happens here, too. One new resident was on Facebook, very upset about a bobcat that kept coming up on their deck and sleeping on their deck chairs. He wanted to know how to scare it away. Then he posted a picture of it, and it was a domestic shorthair tabby cat. I felt kind of bad for him because it had to be embarrassing when people pointed out that it was just a regular old kitty cat!

[Pam in CT]

nm

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Pam in CT
can't quote???

[Katy]

Oh, snakes... When we lived in Oklahoma one day we took DH on a walk with us. There was a trail that ran between our neighborhood, a golf course, and a school that we liked to walk on. DH typically was working too much to go with us.  He was raised in the Midwest, far from any snakes.  We cane up around a hill and there was a sudden chorus of rattling from a pile of rocks just off the trail. DH assumed it was, “a lot of locusts.”  The kids thought it was hilarious and teased him about rattlesnake safety for years. 
 

Then one time back in the Midwest where timber rattlers are possible near water but rare, one of the in-home teachers who helped a little kid with an IEP across the street from us started shrieking that there had been a huge rattle snake under her car and now it was in our yard and she knew we had kids so she wanted us to know. I went outside to look. It was a rat snake.  When I told her they eat rattle snakes and I hope it stays she looked SO horrified.

[Scarlett]

35 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

Why would you presume she wasn’t safe?  I mean if someone saw her, obviously she isn’t the only one up and about at that hour.

I walk my area at all hours between 4am and midnight by myself. I usually have a light band on my leg so I’m visible to cars.  But I pop my earbuds in to listen to an audio book and go get my steps in as best I can while I can. I’ve had friends call or whatever kid need to talk at 2 am, and in a lovely night it’s good to get some fresh air along with a new perspective from someone else when life is throwing curve balls. 
I do not live in an expensive gated area or anything like that. I’d say solidly lower mostly blue collar middle class.  I’ll admit the roads and sidewalks aren’t packed between 4-6:30am or 10-2am. But I almost always come across at least 2-3 other people walking too. The only time I have ever felt uncomfortable was during the day when a guy would not quit trying to walk next to me and ask me personal questions. 

The danger from cars alone because she was dressed in all dark clothing.  But no, I do not think it is safe for anyone to be out walking at 3:00 a.m.  Maybe it is just this town.  Or maybe I have watched too much Criminal Minds.  LOL

[Carrie12345]

I REALLY stink at snake identification, despite being present for a million of my kids’ nature classes over the years. I generally freeze in place and text the kids a picture to see if it’s safe to move, lol.

[Scarlett]

4 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

I REALLY stink at snake identification, despite being present for a million of my kids’ nature classes over the years. I generally freeze in place and text the kids a picture to see if it’s safe to move, lol.

I am the same way!  I have been in the rural south all of my life and snakes are just a part of life.  Unless it is 6 feet long and black I am always unsure in the moment.  

[Katy]

3 minutes ago, Seasider too said:

Same here. One coyote or redtail hawk shows themself IN THIS AREA THAT IS RIVER BOTTOM SURROUNDED BY WOODS and the Nextdoor app goes nuts with warnings and admonishments to bring in your fur babies. 
 

My wittier neighbors have taken to posting chupicabra sightings. 😂

Our last house was in a very similar place...   I did have an owl swoop at our yorkie one evening at dusk.  He was on a leash less than 4’ from me because a groundhog had dug a hole under our fence big enough for the yorkie to get out.  For weeks afterwards that owl would park on our deck rail to hunt and hoot. I finally broke the birds of prey harassment law and chased him off with a broom for a few nights in a row. Then he liked a tree out of reach instead. 
 

I didn’t see him for a long time and then one day a chipmunk was snacking on a pot of lavender I had on our deck table.  An owl grabbed him, and the chipmunk tore up half the plant trying to not become a snack. 

[Drama Llama]

And then there are the people who call about tigers.

https://wjla.com/news/local/white-tiger-found-i-270-finds-new-home-montgomery-county-department-police?fbclid=IwAR2-lAaGf4Hh3v_dwCHEVtgANXDQXdXv9aMJRCZ-4eNzC1xzlfLPX6yq6OI

[1234]

She would not have been able to handle our Florida neighborhood, which had the occasional alligator in the retention ponds and black bear in a tree. And snakes everywhere. I hated snakes but somehow became quite used to them while living there (never did get used to the gators and bears though). 

[1234]

1 minute ago, Seasider too said:

Yeah when the alligator nuisance officer tells you he can’t come out til the gator is a minimum of 4 ft long, it can be a little unnerving. 

🤣 This is exactly what happened to us the first month we were there! I freaked out and called them and when they said they had to wait until it was bigger I knew it was going to be an interesting few years. 

[Scarlett]

6 minutes ago, Seasider too said:

 

Thing is, you don’t have to be able to identify ALL the snakes. Just try to learn the venomous ones that are most likely to live in the habitats you share.
 

The big snakes are fairly easy. It’s the pygmy rattlers that scare me.

 

LOL, yes I intellectually know this.  I can actually identify snakes.  If they are in a cage and I can stare at them.  But when I am faced with one in my yard or on a hike...I just freeze.  And the babies are the worst.   They are much more difficult to identify.  I don't want to kill baby rat snakes or black snakes but I don't want to let copper heads or water moccasins live. Edited to add---live in my yard.  I don't kill anything in the woods or the wild.  

Edited March 10, 2021 by Scarlett

[klmama]

27 minutes ago, Seasider too said:

Yeah when the alligator nuisance officer tells you he can’t come out til the gator is a minimum of 4 ft long, it can be a little unnerving. 

Why is that?  Are they not considered dangerous until then?  

[KungFuPanda]

4 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

I’ve been isolated for so long and Dh is out of town and the one kid who would entertain my snark is asleep.

Pandemic has flooded my area with new residents. Like, dam breaking flood. Mostly from metropolitan areas. I try to retain some empathy, but I’m also getting old and snarkier, lol.

A new person on FB posted a warning that she saw a skunk while walking her dog last night.
We live in a forest. Our neighborhood, which remains mostly wooded, was carved into the middle of miles of wilderness. The thought that someone’s worried about skunks makes me worried about how they’re going to handle real spring, when the foxes, bears, bobcats, and all the other animals come out. The coyotes don’t usually come into the neighborhood, but can be spotted now and then on the outer properties, and their cries can be heard all day.

We. Live. In. The. Forest. A skunk walking around at night, minding its business is going to be the least of your concerns, lady!

 

It's probably a useful heads up for all of the new residents. It sounds like they are becoming a significant percentage of your population.  Long time residents won't think to mention stuff like this, so it's good the information comes from someone. You can do your homework and realize that there will be critters in the woods, but nobody is going to take the time to generate an exact list of everything they expect to encounter.  New places just come with surprises and people will remark on them.  I lived in the woods my whole life, but never encountered a cayote in my yard until I moved to different woods as an adult. I'm only about 300 miles away, but there are differences.

[YaelAldrich]

Ok, I live IN a city (Boston, no, not a suburb!) and we have wild turkeys, coyotes, foxes, and skunks. Someone even spotted a black bear in the next town over (Newton) two years ago. A coyote killed a pet dog last week so people are worried.

 

[Xahm]

In college I worked at a conference/campground in the NC mountains, mostly in the front office. The director of one camp would put in complaints like " there's a snake in the creek" and I would have to forward that on to maintenance. The maintenance guy and I had a bit of a code for bogus complaints, but that one put him over the top.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Xahm

[Carrie12345]

9 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

It's probably a useful heads up for all of the new residents. It sounds like they are becoming a significant percentage of your population.  Long time residents won't think to mention stuff like this, so it's good the information comes from someone. You can do your homework and realize that there will be critters in the woods, but nobody is going to take the time to generate an exact list of everything they expect to encounter.  New places just come with surprises and people will remark on them.  I lived in the woods my whole life, but never encountered a cayote in my yard until I moved to different woods as an adult. I'm only about 300 miles away, but there are differences.

Oh, they’ll be told! 
I just checked back and am shocked that there’s very little snark in the responses. The warm weather must have people in a good mood today. There’s even a ( not thorough) list in one post, lol.

[Katy]

1 hour ago, klmama said:

Why is that?  Are they not considered dangerous until then?  

They’re very dangerous if you’re a frog or lizard. Most of the babies get eaten by something bigger. 

[mommyoffive]

OP, I see how this would be so annoying.  I do kind of feel bad for some of these people who are going to learn the hard way what is like to live there.  I am sure people moved out of the big cities to your area and had no idea what it is really like to live there.  I wonder if a lot of people will move back once they get a spring and summer under their belts in the more rural areas that they thought would be so great.  Lots of times you just don't think of these things before you move if you have never lived in that area before. 

[Miss Tick]

3 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

I used to live in a neighborhood set in the woods. Plenty of houses pretty close together but everyone’s backyard backed up to the woods. I knew a lady once who called the police because of a snake in the road. I told her the police would just toss it back in the closest yard. 
 

I’m a total city girl out of my element in the woods but even I knew the police weren’t coming out to deal with a rat snake. 

I had the opposite nuisance call extreme once when a neighbor called the fire department because her pet parrot had escaped and was up in a tree. 🙄 To my surprise the responded with a ladder truck and chased it for almost an hour before they had to go do something else. The parrot eventually flew back.

[klmama]

22 minutes ago, SusanC said:

I had the opposite nuisance call extreme once when a neighbor called the fire department because her pet parrot had escaped and was up in a tree. 🙄 To my surprise the responded with a ladder truck and chased it for almost an hour before they had to go do something else. The parrot eventually flew back.

I'm surprised they came.  Here people hire professional tree workers to get down stuck pets. 

[Miss Tick]

Just now, klmama said:

I'm surprised they came.  Here people hire professional tree workers to get down stuck pets. 

IKR??!! Must have been a slow day at the fire house or something

[kbutton]

3 hours ago, Katy said:

Oh, snakes... When we lived in Oklahoma one day we took DH on a walk with us. There was a trail that ran between our neighborhood, a golf course, and a school that we liked to walk on. DH typically was working too much to go with us.  He was raised in the Midwest, far from any snakes.  We cane up around a hill and there was a sudden chorus of rattling from a pile of rocks just off the trail. DH assumed it was, “a lot of locusts.”  The kids thought it was hilarious and teased him about rattlesnake safety for years. 

Lol! Having lived in the midwest as an adult and in places with rattlesnakes as a kid, I have seen/heard far more locusts, so this oddly makes some sense. He would never live that down in my hometown either.

2 hours ago, Joker2 said:

She would not have been able to handle our Florida neighborhood, which had the occasional alligator in the retention ponds and black bear in a tree. And snakes everywhere. I hated snakes but somehow became quite used to them while living there (never did get used to the gators and bears though). 

I hope to never live in FL.

1 hour ago, YaelAldrich said:

Ok, I live IN a city (Boston, no, not a suburb!) and we have wild turkeys, coyotes, foxes, and skunks. Someone even spotted a black bear in the next town over (Newton) two years ago. A coyote killed a pet dog last week so people are worried.

I can't see wildlife + city going good places. Foxes and turkeys, sure. Coyotes and bears, not so much! I'm thinking rabies rates might rise, at minimum.

 

Growing up in a rural area in PA (small town with lots of state land and farms all around), I am enjoying the bits of snark, but I have to point out that wildlife is making a really big comeback. My dad hunted and fished extensively all over at least one county for 40 some years and saw only one or two bears in all that time. Now, he and my mom are vexed because they never seem to be up and about when the neighbors spot bear cubs playing on their front porch, and bear season barely thins out the nuisance population. It's a HUGE change in the last 20 years for some areas to have bears, raptors, and coyotes. Deer are extremely common, but it's only been in the last twenty years that my parents would ever see deer in town. Now they are eating everyone's gardens. 

I've rarely even seen a skunk unless it's smashed on the side of the road. I do smell them and hope I'm not going to scare one for not knowing where it is. My college campus had a couple that were used to people, and that's really the only time I've seen them. 

[Swimmer1112]

LOL, I just saw 6 Facebook post warning of coyotes from last night. From all the Ring videos that were uploaded, I think I can follow the coyotes path through our neighborhood. We live right next to a canyon and I’ve seen coyotes in my backyard every morning for the last 20 years. 

[Carrie12345]

31 minutes ago, SusanC said:

IKR??!! Must have been a slow day at the fire house or something

Dh has responded to maybe 2 cat in trees calls. They usually say no, but sometimes they just want to get out of the house, lol.

[Katy]

When we lived in the same house with the owl I once saw a critter I’d never seen before sneak up the hill behind our house in the rain. I only noticed because the dogs were going crazy.  I googled and googled, and finally figured out it was a fisher cat, far further South than their typical range. 
 

Have you ever seen a fisher cat?

 

[klmama]

4 minutes ago, Marie.Sd said:

LOL, I just saw 6 Facebook post warning of coyotes from last night. From all the Ring videos that were uploaded, I think I can follow the coyotes path through our neighborhood. We live right next to a canyon and I’ve seen coyotes in my backyard every morning for the last 20 years. 

People did that last year for a bobcat near here.  It made quite a huge circuit every night, passing through at least three communities.  That was kind of unusual, though.  Coyotes are super common, though, as are deer, foxes, hawks, owls, turkeys, raccoons, oppossums, groundhogs, snakes, etc.  I've seen NextDoor comments about all of them.  I don't know why people are so surprised to find animals living in a neighborhood near woods and water.

[Carrie12345]

4 minutes ago, Katy said:

When we lived in the same house with the owl I once saw a critter I’d never seen before sneak up the hill behind our house in the rain. I only noticed because the dogs were going crazy.  I googled and googled, and finally figured out it was a fisher cat, far further South than their typical range. 
 

Have you ever seen a fisher cat?

 

Yes! They’re not regularly sighted, but their population has been slowly growing in our area. They were a big part of the girls’ nature classes.

[Terabith]

4 hours ago, Scarlett said:

The danger from cars alone because she was dressed in all dark clothing.  But no, I do not think it is safe for anyone to be out walking at 3:00 a.m.  Maybe it is just this town.  Or maybe I have watched too much Criminal Minds.  LOL

I often walk around 2 or 3 am, if I'm up late.  I like to start my day with a few thousand steps when I get up in the morning.  It inspires me to keep going.  But I feel pretty safe walking in my neighborhood alone.  The monolith will protect me.  

One time, a deer ran in front of me so close I could have reached out and touched it.  And I frequently see skunks and raccoons and possums.  Once in awhile foxes.  Loads of bunnies.  One did brush against me as he ran past one time.  

[SanDiegoMom]

2 hours ago, SusanC said:

I had the opposite nuisance call extreme once when a neighbor called the fire department because her pet parrot had escaped and was up in a tree. 🙄 To my surprise the responded with a ladder truck and chased it for almost an hour before they had to go do something else. The parrot eventually flew back.

We did call the Fire Dept once when there was a cat stuck in a tree behind our house -- not our cat, but the darn thing wouldn't climb down and it had been up there for over 36 hours.  And my kitchen looked right at the tree, and the cat was looking right at me.... ugh.  The fire fighters couldn't reach it though-- the cat climbed higher and they apologized and then left.   My husband ended up cutting the tree down - - while it was falling the cat finally jumped off and ran home.  

[Miss Tick]

13 minutes ago, SanDiegoMom said:

My husband ended up cutting the tree down

Hard core! My MIL found a large rat snake up in a tree in her yard once and my FIL had to cut it down (the snake had already left).

[Ottakee]

Friends of mine were featured years ago on a brochure with a scratch and sniff manure sticker on it.   It was the county's response to all of the complaints from newbies about manure smells in the country and tractors on the roads, etc.   Basically it said, if you move here, expect smells, and tractors and animals.

[Carrie12345]

1 minute ago, Dreamergal said:

This thread freaks me out. I know what a fox and bear are, had to google what a bobcat is which brought me to a website about wild life in our metroplex. Wonderful, not ! 😱

I would move if I saw a bear in my suburban yard or bobcat kits as the website about local wildlife helpfully informed me. 

I love a little bit of yard, green space, some grass and love birds and squirrels. But we have a teeny, tiny green belt behind our house and our neighborhood was originally a ranch, so the threat of a rattler is always there. 

Our backyard is mostly hardscape and hardly any grass because we were worried about things lurking in the grass. 

Don't want to know any skunk even if it pepe le pew just like I do not want to meet a mouse even it is mickey. 

I am always a little bit freaked out how people in the US calmly accept wildlife in their backyards and neighborhoods. I grew up in a concrete jungle and always longed for green spaces, just did not realize it came with wildlife !! 

Lol.

Bears are so active in my area. Each year is different on my specific property though. Some years we’ll get the same bears making regular rounds, and some years we’ll only get one or two visits in the middle of the night. (As evidenced by scattered trash and scat.)

One year, we had a big momma who had 5 cubs following her around. We spent forever trying to scare them off so Dh could exit his car and enter the house. The cubs went up the trees and momma wasn’t about to leave them. It was annoying, lol.

[Kassia]

56 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I often walk around 2 or 3 am, if I'm up late.  I like to start my day with a few thousand steps when I get up in the morning.  It inspires me to keep going.  But I feel pretty safe walking in my neighborhood alone.  The monolith will protect me.  

One time, a deer ran in front of me so close I could have reached out and touched it.  And I frequently see skunks and raccoons and possums.  Once in awhile foxes.  Loads of bunnies.  One did brush against me as he ran past one time.  

I run at around 5am.  Our neighborhood is very safe (except for dogs sometimes).  I've seen lots of deer, foxes, coyotes, skunks, opossums, turkeys, raccoons, snakes, turtles, rabbits, owls, squirrels, etc.  I saw a bobcat once and that scared me.  We've had bear tracks in the snow in our yard before and bear sightings in our neighborhood, but I've never seen one.  Once I saw an owl go after a squirrel and that was kind of upsetting.  I was glad the squirrel got away - I didn't want to see it get killed.

 

46 minutes ago, SanDiegoMom said:

We did call the Fire Dept once when there was a cat stuck in a tree behind our house -- not our cat, but the darn thing wouldn't climb down and it had been up there for over 36 hours.  And my kitchen looked right at the tree, and the cat was looking right at me.... ugh.  The fire fighters couldn't reach it though-- the cat climbed higher and they apologized and then left.   My husband ended up cutting the tree down - - while it was falling the cat finally jumped off and ran home.  

Our cat got stuck in a tree a few years ago.  We think a loose dog scared it.  It was awful!  DH wouldn't call the fire department and really took a risk going up to get her.  He couldn't get high enough and held a box out and she actually jumped into the box!  It was an amazing rescue, but way too risky for him and I wasn't happy he did it - he was high up on a rickety extension ladder holding a box out and then had the weight of the cat jumping into the box and he had to bring that down.  

 

[Terabith]

8 minutes ago, Kassia said:

Our cat got stuck in a tree a few years ago.  We think a loose dog scared it.  It was awful!  DH wouldn't call the fire department and really took a risk going up to get her.  He couldn't get high enough and held a box out and she actually jumped into the box!  It was an amazing rescue, but way too risky for him and I wasn't happy he did it - he was high up on a rickety extension ladder holding a box out and then had the weight of the cat jumping into the box and he had to bring that down.  

 

Yeah, that would terrify me.  

I did see a hawk grab and kill a squirrel, maybe 20 feet from me, once.  Honestly, while I felt badly for the squirrel, it was one of the most awe inspiring things I've ever seen.  It was really beautiful and majestic to see its power.  I got some great pictures.  It’s a little hard to tell on this picture, but the hawk is standing on the squirrel   

@Dreamergal, I'm not sure there is anything cuter than a family of baby skunks.  They're actually pretty friendly towards people, too, when they're babies.  They make the most adorable little sounds.  

Edited March 10, 2021 by Terabith

[Shoeless]

I was a newbie city slicker that frantically asked in the FB group: "There's a herd of cattle out on the road! What do I do?!?" It was 5 cows.  I am sure the neighbors got a chuckle about that. 🙂

[Scarlett]

17 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Lol.

Bears are so active in my area. Each year is different on my specific property though. Some years we’ll get the same bears making regular rounds, and some years we’ll only get one or two visits in the middle of the night. (As evidenced by scattered trash and scat.)

One year, we had a big momma who had 5 cubs following her around. We spent forever trying to scare them off so Dh could exit his car and enter the house. The cubs went up the trees and momma wasn’t about to leave them. It was annoying, lol.

5 cubs is almost unheard of!  That is pretty cool.  I wonder if she adopted one of them.....I am on a cool bear site called Keeping Bruno safe (started out when they were tracking that wayward Bear Bruno across 5 states---but now he has stopped and settled in AR but the site is very active still with  a lot of good info on bears) and that is where I learned that 5 cubs is unusual.  4 is unusual.  There is a famous bear in Yellowstone #399 and she currently has 4 cubs.  She is very old though and they think this might be her last litter.

[SanDiegoMom]

25 minutes ago, Dreamergal said:

This thread freaks me out. I know what a fox and bear are, had to google what a bobcat is which brought me to a website about wild life in our metroplex. Wonderful, not ! 😱

I would move if I saw a bear in my suburban yard or bobcat kits as the website about local wildlife helpfully informed me. 

Bobcats are usually VERY shy, and they really don't get bigger than 30 or 35 pounds.  We had a momma bobcat get separated from her babies (who were on our front porch!) and while we were trying to game plan to get them reunited, she was just sitting up in the tree, worriedly trying to figure out what the heck we were going to do to her babies. But she didn't come near us.

Mountain lions, on the other hand -- I don't want to run into one of those.  We have them occasionally, but usually in the preserves rather than the neighborhoods.  Coyotes we have all the time (and in fact there is a den right across the street and we hear them yipping almost every night). They are pretty brave and even calmly walk across the street in front of people.  

[Terabith]

14 minutes ago, Dreamergal said:

Beautiful picture.

Will take your word for it and watch it in a documentary. Any skunk, baby or not will send me running...😊

 

Look at this baby!  How could you be scared if it came wombling up to you?

[Terabith]

Listen to these adorable, friendly, curious babies!  

 

[SanDiegoMom]

3 minutes ago, Dreamergal said:

Like this scenario a lot though the babies on the porch scenario freaks me out.

 

What was even funnier about the bobcats -- I wasn't there initially. I was at a swim meet with my oldest while my husband was at home with the younger two (4 or 5 at the time). He called me, panicked, asking what he should do about the bobcats on the porch.  He was very worried about the threat of the bobcat to the younger kids (who were safely locked inside playing video games at the time).  My husband is a US Marine, I might add, who has been life or death situations before and has had to live in the woods for a week or two at a time during his career.  But he'd never seen a bobcat before.