Wild life.......

Being a man of leisure, as one is for the time being, I've plenty of time to stop and enjoy the smaller and simpler things in life, things that I might normally be too busy to notice, for example wildlife. Now, living not to far from an Interstate Highway you wouldn't have thought there would be much wildlife running about and populating the place, but, there my chuckle bunnies, you are wrong. This little area is a positive Aladdin's cave of life from the wild. First of all there are the squirrels that I've mentioned a few times before. Although having said that, since the tornado I've only seen Betsy, the mother, not the other two, who I fear may not have fared so well!

Betsy is dashing around here and there and enjoying regular feeds from the squirrel feeder, which despite being put up by Matt, has survived a tornado, an inland hurricane, five hour thunderstorms and me hanging off it while trying to fill the blasted thing!

Here she is having a chat with me on the balcony, one can only wonder what she's saying because, try as I might, I am not I regret to say fluent in squirrel!

A week of so before the tornado Mat and I were up a little late on the balcony and saw a raccoon dashing about the apartments, on the hunt for edible trash and other tasty morsels. I've only ever heard raccoons before (last year camping) so to see one was rather a treat for me even if they are pests. OK, that's a lie, I've seen a couple of dead squished ones on the side of the road whilst we've been driving around the state. I was surprised by the size of this particular raccoon, bigger than I thought they would be in the flesh, cute yes, but nasty little critters according to Matt!

Also a week or so before the storm, during the day while Matt was working, I was sitting at the dining room table having a cup of coffee when for some reason a my eyes raised to the windows and there I saw a most amazing sight. Skiting from flower to flower of the balcony window boxes was a lovely green hummingbird. I've only ever seen them on wildlife programmes and never in the flesh, it's body so tiny and so fragile and it's wings moving so fast it's just a blur, was a wonderful sight to behold. I raced for the camera, but alas before I'd even got off my rather large arse it was gone, off in search of nectar elsewhere. I sat in wonderment for a full five minutes, happily content with nature, with witnessing such lovely spectacle of nature.

Sticking with animals of the feathered variety, a common sight around her is the wonderfully brightly coloured Cardinals. At first seeing a bright red bird in the tree is an alarming experience, they are just so vividly bright, but they seem to be so plentiful here that such flashes of red are common place, and eyebrow raising they are not, at least not to a local. To a mere interloper, a tourist, a legal alien, they are a wonder of the natural world. I've tried talking to them, but surprisingly they don't answer back - maybe it's the accent!

While we were without power for those five days, Matt and I were driving toward his parents house where at the side of the road, pecking at a dead cat we spotted a very large bird indeed. I had no clue what it was, but Mat did and kindly informed me it was a vulture! Yes, by god they have living, breathing, vicious, flesh eating vultures about these here parts. Kinda makes me think again about sun baking on the grass when the sun shines, they might mistake me for a beached whale. (Yes I know we're over 200 miles from the sea, but you know what I mean!) If you've only ever seen vultures in movies, like me previously, then I can inform you they really do look that mean, nasty and like a very old maths teacher!

I wanted to take a picture, despite it being a gross sight of a cat with it's innards out on display and a rather large bird pecking away at it, but the noise of the engine caused the vulture to take flight, it's a wonder they get off the ground, they look so big, heavy and not aerodynamic at all, but up it went, circled around a couple of times before swooping down after we were further down the road, to resume it's meal.

The wildlife we've seen has not just been on the outside, oh no, we've had some on the inside as well. A couple of nights ago we were sitting on the sofa watching something on the multitude of channels when over my bare foot ran a rather small brown spider. I was startled, but none to bothered, Matt on the other hand freaked out. "Ahhhh it's a Brown Recluse" He screamed, as we tried to corner the little arachnid. I didn't understand the excitement, it was just a little spider, but Matt was of the most agitated side of things, even though it was my bare foot it scampered over.

A little bit of research later found that Brown Recluse spiders may be small but are poisonous and do like to take a bite of human flesh from time to time, which if left a while can turn black and errm drop off! Not a good look, I'm sure you will agree, a blackened, infested sore on what was once a thumb or a foot, you know a limb that one kinda really needs. Apparently according to the local media there are vasts numbers of brown recluse spiders out and about because of the destruction caused by the tornado, making them less erm reclusive. I'm thankful now that Matt is a bit of a flapper when insects and bugs are around, plus I'm so bloody glad he was once a boy scout and can not only name all the poisonous indigenous creatures, but also identify them and thus ensure our safety, or just freak out about seeing them at close quarters. I'll not freak out unless they are within biting, spitting, attacking or indeed crushing distance.

However, last night I thought I saw a massive big spider scurry across the floor, I didn't scream, nope, it was just a high pitched, loud, warning call to Matt who was relaxing on the sofa, playing some game or other on his DS. He jumped up and pulled the sofa out, in case what I saw was the deadly brown recluse or it's brother. Much searching revealed not a brown recluse, oh no, it was something else, but a spider it was not! Found under the heater and sniffing away with a constant wiggling noise and cute little ears was a tiny mouse! Yep, we now have little fury mouse loose about this house, which for over an hour Matt and I tried to coax into an empty sugar jar with bits of American cheese in order to expel him from our little apartment!

Needless to say, two poofs with processed cheese and an empty sugar jar did not catch a sweet little mouse! We tried, we really did, we hunted him under the heater, followed him to the kitchen after he broke round our barrier of a photo album. He hid behind the refrigerator, of that we were sure, sure that is until we moved the sodding back breaking thing and little mousey was no where to be seen. We retired to bed, thinking of a plan to rid the apartment of Mr Mouse, and of course as you would expect from two big, butch strong and fearless men like us, there was a towel blocking the gap under the door!

There has been no wildlife spotted today, which we've spent going out to lunch with Matt's folks at Golden Corral and then heading into Carbondale, where I spent a small fortune i Hollister before we went to see Angels & Demons, starring Tom Hanks, which is doing well at the box office over here. It was an enjoyable movie, great locations and cinematography, then it was off for coffee and spending a little more money in Macy's before heading home.

I wonder what wildlife we'll see (of be afraid of) tomorrow??