I’ve had a few brushes with living nature the last week or so. Nothing as severe as baboons flinging poop at me from the roof-line or anything… think a little more suburban.
Was talking on the phone and wandering around the house as I did so, out of a lack of anything better to do with myself, and stopped to peek out of my back patio door… to see a possum (an “opossum”, to be accurate) the size of a pug doing a slow balancing act as he walked along the top of the wooden fence between my yard and my neighbors. This was a big boy! This also explains why I occasionally find little dug-out spots in the yard and in the garden — no growing plants were harmed, but they were a little dug out around the roots — as something was foraging for insects and worms.
I stood and watched, entranced, as he climbed down a tree trunk and into the yard. The spell was broken however when he started nosing around our newly acquired baby banana-tree plant, which was still in it’s original nursery pot and not very stable or able to be dug in without possible damage. The second I opened the door, he quickly scurried off.
Last week, we watched a hawk hunt the doves that live in the trees in our back yard, scissoring through the branches and causing a huge ruckus among its prey. More power to him, as the doves are obnoxious pains in the ass, and dumber than a sack of hammers.
I also had the startling pleasure a few months back, while exiting the parking garage where I work, of rounding a corner in time to watch a hawk take off from the concrete in front of me with a pigeon in its talons… again, I wish him much future success as the pigeons that live in the parking garage do nothing but scratch up the roofs of cars with their claws, and leave a pleasant layer of shit over everything. Between the hawk and the cat, I can only hope the population dwindles rapidly.
Yeah, I know, I’m practically Doctor Dolittle.
Not the retarded Eddie Murphy version, though.
Hey, Doc. Doolittle. Ever consider calling the Austin animal control people to come out and trap that Possum? Not likely there’s only one. Probably there’s a whole nest of them close by. The garden destruction and aggravation factor, not withstanding…they ARE warm blooded critters that can carry rabies. You might wind up being a hero and saving some little kid from being bitten or scratched when they pet the cute little “kitty”. Damn…those rabies shots hurt!
I know…I’m the anti-nature fairy.