Bear Bait

We have quite the variety of wild animals in our new neighborhood.

We were told that we MUST keep our trash in our garage and bbq grills cleaned because of bears.  Bears are so cute.  Unless they are strolling through your neighborhood rummaging through trash.  We've heard there are bears but so far no sightings.

The first day we moved in we interrupted a snake's nap in the sun in our front yard.

I hate snakes.

Just when the snake headed back into the bushes for likely an afternoon snack, out pops a wild bunny.  It was adorable.  Except there are a lot of wild bunnies in the yard and they crap a lot.  It isn't like you can scoop bunny poo from the grass, so there it lies.

A few weeks after we were in the house G was stung by a wasp and I realized we had a wasp nest in the front bushes.  I destroyed that sucker.  Those beasts were mean.  Numerous kids were being stung so I had to step in and empty two cans of hornet nest spray into the bush.  I'm happy to say that the advertising is correct on the can, I killed the entire family of wasps from 25ft away.

One night while my family was sitting down for dinner I stepped into the other room to grab something.  While in the front room I saw a bizarre sight and had to gather the entire family to see for their own eyes, a family of deer walking up the sidewalk.  NO KIDDING.  They were on the sidewalk.  An odd sight.  The street was empty but you know, safety first.

The deer sightings are almost daily when I'm out on a run and you know they scare me every single time.  I jump a little and then try not to make eye contact whilst stealthily moving along.

Next came the bobcat.  I nearly pooped myself when that sucker came rolling down the alley.  I was cleaning out the garage when I saw a cute cat out of the corner of my eye, but no, it wasn't a neighbor cat it was a giant bobcat.  That dude jumped over the 6ft fence like I step over a pile of legos.

Apparently bobcats are common too.  While Matt and I were on a walk a few weeks ago, we passed a few neighbors talking and I heard one neighbor say "I saw a whole family of bobcats the other night right over there where those people are walking".  Uh thanks for the heads-up before we walked into the den of bobcats.

Last night I was awakened by quite a ruckus. It sounded like a cat vs raccoon or maybe that bobcat was back.  Who knows?  

Then today when I pulled out of the garage I noticed a cat, in my bushes.  Odd little kitty.  His head was toward the fence and back to me when I pulled out.  It seemed weird he didn't startle when I pulled out of the garage.

But then I knew, that cat was dead.

Cats don't just chill with their back to the action.

And I remembered the kitty party the night before and figured I was looking at the aftermath.

I was heading out for a few hours so I told the boys to call dad and find out what to do about the cat.  An hour later they reported the cat was gone.  It got up and walked away.

Wow.  I really thought that cat was dead.

And then I came home to find the cat was moved a bit, but still in our bushes.  I tossed a pinecone on his head just to confirm he was in fact dead.

I think thats the official dead cat test.  

Pinecone to the noggin.

By 4pm I still couldn't reach any of the alleged dead animal retrieval services for the area.  I left messages for everyone to come get that cat.

There dead kitty lies, just outside my gate, inviting bears and other scavenging creatures to my yard tonight for a little snack.

I wish I had a security camera pointed to the back gate because I'm guessing dead kitty is bear bait and tonight might just be the night I have a visit from my local family of hungry bears filling their bellies for winter.