Close encounters of the wild side

The wildlife in our area are brazen...there's just no other word that describes them well.  In our own backyard we have a raccoon that is a regular 5:00 PM visitor to the bird feeder.  I guess he's showing up for the "early bird" special.


He'll scope out the seeds on the ground and then looks both ways before shimming up the pole, using the squirrel baffle as a booster seat to get comfy.  Then he proceeds to scoop up the seeds until he's full.

Tonight, just for variety I provided dessert in the form of miniature marshmallows.  I opened the window and tossed them at him, or to him as he saw it.  The bounced off his furry body (I do have good aim and could be considered lethal with marshmallows), then he'd see where they went and gorge himself.


At one point he reared up and chewed with his mouth open (just no manners at all), exposing chewed up white fluff.  

He looked totally blissed out and appeared to be laughing...he also appeared to be rabid with the frothy white drool around his mouth.  I half expected him to ask for a cup of hot cocoa to go with them.


My friend, The Duchess, had an encounter of a different kind with a deer sighting.  It had the audacity to take a bite of her Linden tree...ain't nobody messes with the Duchess's Linden tree!  She girded her loins for battle.... well, actually she slipped into her clogs and pulled on gloves and grabbed the deer repellent.

When she told me this this I had fears that she was applying this like mosquito repellent, but she soon made it clear that she knew to spray the plants.  She charged out into her yard armed with the repellent and approached the deer.  Nothing.  She started yelling at the deer.  Nothing.  She started clapping her hands at the deer.  He bowed to her applause.  This was really making her mad.  


Then he started to paw the ground and stamp his feet.  Oh, that was unexpected.  He followed up with snorting.  Now she was having second thoughts and proceeded to back up and run into the safety of her house, but not without a mad, frenzied spraying of all the trees and plants within her path.  She was a woman with a mission and even though the deer was taller and bigger than she was, she was not going to be undaunted.


Long Live the Queen and the Duchess