Sunday, July 30, 2006

Wild Kingdom (Suburbia Stylee)

It's kind of neat to see what sorts of animals are raiding the garden in the middle of the night. Last night, around 8:30 p.m., I glanced out the back window to see a big mamma possum (Didelphis virginiana) ambling along through the backyard. Evelin accused it of being the animal that had raided our tomatoes, but I wasn't sure: She was staying in the back of the yard and didn't seem inclined to approach the house. Of course I've caught possums in the compost heap before and I've seen one skitter across the neighbor's driveway, so we know they do get up by the house.

I went out to pick any ripe/nearly ripe tomatoes, just in case, but by the time I got outside, she had made her way into the brush and/or the neighbor's yard.

Quinn awoke around 3:00 a.m.; after a little excitement (Evelin seems to have gotten a bit dehydrated with some of Quinn's extended nursing sessions tonight, and she ended up getting sick), we were headed back into bed around 3:30 a.m. and I happened to glance out the back window to see three raccoons (Procyon lotor) run, one after the other, through the backyard and disappear around the corner of the house.

Every time I'd get up to soothe Quinn, I'd check the window and around 4:15 a.m., there was just one raccoon making his way back and forth over part of the yard. Maybe he was digging up grubs, moles, or something else (it would explain some of the holes that have popped up in the backyard), I don't know. After about five minutes, he disappeared into the shadows.

About the same time, Celeste gave a little sleep cry: "No go into green room, puppy." I'm not 100% sure about "room" but the rest of the sentence was pretty clear ... what it means, who knows ...

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