Summer into Fall in the blink of an eye -- Part 3

Late summer and early fall have brought some interesting critters of the 4 legged and winged variety to the neighborhood. Just tonight, turning off the street to start down our driveway, my headlight caught what at first appeared to be the neighbor’s cat. Nooo, their cat is yellow and this animal appeared no-color in the glare of my light. Ears too tall and pointy. Tail too long and bushy. Moves oddly for a cat. I stopped the car and the animal, in the act of running the other way, also stopped and turned to look. After a quick pause, it started back to the direction I suspect it was headed as I started my turn – right down my driveway and into the weeds. Now I could see – a small gray fox.


Another denizen of the dusk was surprised by Nutmeg while on a walk with Nick a couple of weeks ago. I was in DC and talking to Nick on the phone as he walked her, and heard, “No Nutmeg. Get back. GetbackgetbackaghhhhhNUTMEG!” This followed by, “Oh sh__, it got her…NUTMEGaghhhh.” Then the next – and last – thing I heard that night was – “What is it I’m supposed to wash her with? Vinegar? Baking soda? What?” No having to guess what she found in the weeds by the culvert. A cat of a different stripe! I came home a day later to find my skunked dog quarantined in the garage. Nick had gotten as much off as he could but she still had that unmistakable fragrance.

And still another cat story. It was a few weeks ago now that I encountered one of our neighbors on my morning walk with Nutmeg. She had had a harrowing night. A deer was taken just outside their bedroom window. I never thought deer made noise. But in extremis, I guess they can be vocal. She told me that they woke up to the cries of the deer, cries that stopped abruptly. They continued to hear some shuffling and other noise, but no further sounds of distress. The next morning, they found the deer – or what was left of her. From the remains, their assumption was that a big cat took her. They thought this was probably the doe that had just birthed a fawn, but had not done well in the birthing. They had seen her refuse the fawn’s attempts to nurse. And the doe wasn’t moving normally. So she was quick prey to a hungry cat. We have so many deer in this neighborhood (well, you’ve heard my rants before) that at hunting season and birthing season, the predators are naturally drawn to the catchable prey. Not many days later, I noticed that the vultures that had been attracted to that doe were now soaring, perching and hovering over the arroyo that runs alongside our house. It wasn’t long before any doubt was removed upon crossing downwind.

On a rather amusing note, though. Nutmeg HATES big black birds! Just let a raven pass close enough to the ground to cast a shadow and Nutmeg will look up and bark and jump, as though somehow she believes either she’s going to put the fear of Dog in that raven or she’s going to snatch that bird right off the wing. With the number of vultures inhabiting the neighborhood recently, soaring and drifting, it was bound to happen that a vulture and Nutmeg would cross paths. Again on a morning walk, the vulture was drifting slightly behind us as we climbed a hill, putting the bird 10 feet off the ground but downhill, so effectively at eye level. Definitely checking us out. Were we still moving? Vigorously? Any possibility….? Nutmeg turned suddenly and lunged at the bird. Silently. Not barking. When a dog goes off without making a sound, that dog is serious. She was dead serious. Well, not dead, or the vulture would have hung around. But serious enough that the vulture sort of flipped her off with a wing finger and peeled out for more appetizing quarry.

Now, a final cat story. Nick hurt his back at work one Friday. Pulled it badly or pinched a nerve while moving a box at work. He was in a lot of pain that night and so we were both awake about 2 am. The windows were open in the warm weather. Suddenly, a huffing, gruffing noise outside the window—very close by. I sat up. “What was that?!” I had had one ear buried in the pillow so was slightly hearing-handicapped. Nick, already sitting straight up and alert when the noise occurred, said, “Mountain lion! I think…no. Yeah, that’s what it sounded like.” I could hear every outside dog in the neighborhood suddenly start to bay, howl and otherwise make wake-the-dead racket. Except Nutmeg. She was sitting up with her neck stretched as far as it could go, and then a little farther. Her ears were peaked and twitching. But not a sound. In fact, she had stopped breathing momentarily, the better to hear. We said, nah, couldn’t be. But yeah, it could, because it was only last week… What clinched it was when a friend told a story the following Sunday about camping up in the forest, having a mountain lion come up to his truck and huff-growl at him, annoyed that he was in her territory. He mimicked the cat and my jaw dropped. Exactly! I’m not venturing beyond the back porch light until season is over and those cats have retired up the hill to their more natural habitat.

Far more benignly, the fall migrants have almost all moved through and on. For several days, I watched a small flock of warblers work the seed heads on the grasses and weeds outside my office window. A bird would light on the top of the grass stalk. My first reaction was that the dumb bird didn’t realize the stalk was too thin to support it. I was soon struck dumb watching as the bird rode the stalk to the ground, fluttered its wings to shake the stalk and then hopped off. The stalk bounced back, leaving behind its harvest of seeds, upon which the bird jumped with alacrity. This happened over and over as the small flock took in the harvest before moving on. And the bluebirds are back for the winter, gathering in gossipy groups on the power lines.

It appears I got carried away with critter tales and didn’t leave time to finish Part 3. So, Part 4 – Comus Rd is sold and Rocky Creek is on the verge. We are in the process of selecting the builder – at least I hope so. Have to negotiate a price we can afford. Hope to break ground by Thanksgiving. So stay tuned.