An Animalutitude of Anecdotes

avatar

I don't know what was up with the animal kingdom this week, but holy hectares in Haiti were they full of it. By it, I mean mischief and general shenanigans.

But let me not get ahead of myself.

The first thing that happened was I was on the dreaded book of Faces checking out a couple community pages, as it sometimes is helpful to be informed and at the very least my community's input is often drama-filled and entertaining.

Well, right off the bat I saw a promising post, a local lady had lost her mustang.

The mare had apparently escaped and the woman was asking people to let her know if the mare was sighted but to NOT approach her as she's fresh off the range and spooky.

I smiled knowingly, having been around a wild mustang or two, and felt more than a modicum of sympathy for the woman, as catching the horse was going to be a chore.

The next morning as I was doing the dishes, I got a text. It was my neighbor and the text read, "There's a wild horse outside my kitchen window,"

We let the lady know we had spotted her errant mare, still not sure if the beast is at large or not.

That encounter was the more mild of the animal happenings, the next one was a bit more exciting.

My game night buds have a couple of one brain cell cats (orange kittehs), Milo and Noodle. The boys are large kittens now and so very pampered that they don't really resemble or act like the country barn cats they were supposed to be. In fact, my one buddy, a former EOD marine, looks on them both with what I giggly refer to as disdain of the useless, as they don't really do anything other than exist, eat, and be pretty cute. Well, as we were getting ready to head into the Man Cave for a bit of 2nd edition D&D, I heard a screeching that was reminiscent of soon to be dead baby rabbit.

It wasn't a rabbit.

Milo had a ground squirrel in his mouth that was one third his size. He was running around clutching the protesting rodent like a proud lion with his first kill, only the kill was still respirating.

And then he dropped it.

It was then that the ground squirrel did something I have never seen a prey animal do, it rose on its back feet and boxed Milo in the face. I couldn't help it, I burst out in shocked guffaws, what a brave little soul.

Before any of us could do anything, Milo reacquired the unfortunate rodent and disappeared under the deck of the house. My buddy sighed and said, "Well, he's improved my opinion of him a bit."

The final animal tale happened the following night at my birthday party/game night fete. My buddies and are were deep into MTG EDH and snacking on the homemade pretzels that @jacobtothe and I constructed, when my hubs stuck his head out of the door and commanded, *"Get in here!" *

Now to back up about two hours earlier, I had laid down for a cat nap, as I had been up since about four AM. Apparently, during that time, the VOID had brought a LIVE mouse in the house and let it go under the couch.

Fast forward to the hubs beckoning me to our bathroom.

In my bathroom sink was the fattest, cutest little mouse I had ever seen. A highly stressed little morsel that was panting and sipping water from the sink. The hubs grabbed it by the tail, dropped it into my waiting paper bag, and I hurtled out the door, with all my pets in tow, towards the tree line.

Yes, I let the little friend go, it had survived the Void and I wasn't going to off anything on my birthday.

I mean, now that I reflect a bit, it was a bit of an odd assortment of animal tales for sure, which makes me wonder if next week will be meteorological madness or people pestilence. One can never tell....


And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's surplus of animal photo containing and not at all sad about it iPhone.

Posted Using INLEO



0
0
0.000
9 comments
avatar

For several years we had a pet door insert in the slider door for our daughter's little dog to use. Most of the cats used it, too, and periodically they would bring their prey indoors and present it to us, sometimes dead and sometimes alive. Sometimes we didn't know about their gifts until we realized a live mouse was at large in the house. Traps were set and cats were (uselessly) berated. Now the dog is gone, and the pet door is gone, so the mice are no longer brought in. But we are now expected to provide nonstop door service for the one remaining cat, and his needs are great.

0
0
0.000
avatar

The uselessly berating part of your reply killed me lol lol! They truly are indifferent to any sort of chastising 😆

But they are so very enjoyable so I endure their demanding, much like you do it sounds like lol

!PIZZA
!BBH

0
0
0.000
avatar

Not much happening of note like that, just 2 turkeys have reappeared on the farm after years of absence. The bluebird is stoutly defending his dilapidated house against the sparrows. And my contractor saw what he says are towhees in the crabapple tree. Nothing super, just fun to see.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I love bluebirds, they are so feisty and jubilant lol! I think that all sounded super, I love watching what the animals get up too😊

!PIZZA
!BBH

0
0
0.000
avatar

Chipmunks are feisty little furballs! I found Hunter Kira (pictured below with red squirrel) playing with one, and it made the mistake of biting her on the nose. She retaliated by chomping down on its head!

IMG_1756.jpg

IMG_1055.JPG

Most of the time, the chipmunks are much cleverer, hopping around as if they are dying before getting just far enough away to dart into a hole. Twinkle Toes (RIP) eventually caught on and became the chipmunk slayer, but neither cat liked to eat them. They both prefer(ed) voles, for whatever reason.

But yes, something in the air this Spring (hopefully not bird flu). Something, presumably a coyote, stole last season's stag head, and the grey squirrels began raiding my chicken coop a few days ago. I shot one so far. No trash pandas yet this year, but after shooting ten last year, I think they may have gotten the hint.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Kaja! I have missed you!

And I think it's only fitting to bite back when bitten, and Hunter Kira appears to be a professional lol!

It's always mystified me a bit how the cats have their snack preferences, I would much rather eat a squirrel or chipmunk than a vole, but then again I am probably being speciesist.

Kaja The Trash Panda Annihilator has a lovely ring to it, they probably have lore about you now 😆

I'm going to channel some of your energy this fall when I am out hunting and attempting to take my very first deer. I mean, since I am moving to the wilds, it seems only fitting to return to my feral roots, and even though I have helped gut, skin, and process many deer, I have never got one of my own, because I was never allowed to hunt, only ride and walk along. That's going to change.

!BBH
!PIZZA

0
0
0.000
avatar

You've never gotten a deer and you want to change that? Same as my mum! We just need to find the proper tool, and while this probably isn't, it makes for a cool picture:

IMG_1430.JPG

Oh, by the way, check your Substack messenger. I sent you something about three weeks ago.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Definitely cool😊

And I’m off to Substack!

0
0
0.000