Critterville

I have seen many wild animals since being back to the Mid West. Besides the regular farm animals; dogs, horses, cows, llamas, and chicken. I have seen hedge hogs, skunks, wild turkeys, deer, possum, squirrels, raccoons, hawks, snakes, more deer and more possum.

I have found that after a skunk becomes road kill, well, be prepared for the stench. Apparently, it might be dead, but its scent still lingers.

I recently learned from someone that Possum are actually immune to snake venom, which would actually benefit the human population. They also kill ticks. Probably could have helped my dog, Dakota, as well. Possum, actually, have five accessible hands; 4 legs, like a dog, plus their tail. Their tail can actually be used as a baby carrier. They are nocturnal, which would explain my heading to work at 10 p.m., and seeing one eating their kind of road kill. GROSS!! They are very slow moving after being shocked, which is said to be why they "play possum."

Female possums, actually, have a pouch to carry their young, like the Kangaroo.

I have had this happen to me in many different places. However, when the road you drive along has a stream on either side of the road, and deals with flooding...Well, you see lots of turtles crossing the road.

My youngest brother has the habit of hitting deer, or for them jumping in front of him. My other brother is like me, we both have not <knock on wood> hit any deer.

What do I do to keep Bambi out of the line of my vehicle?

Besides going the actual speed limit on the heavily deer populated road, I also turn up the radio. Surprisingly, my other brother does the same, and it has worked for him. AGAIN, <knock on wood> that this will continue to work out for me and my brother after telling everyone our secret.

My other theory is that having a lighter colored car keeps deer out of your path, because <knock on wood> it has not happened to me.

SAFE DRIVING!!!

Oh my, to see an owl standing on the ground on the side of the road. I just had to do a U-turn to check it out again. "You, my owl friend, are supposed to be nocturnal. (Sure enough, it was an owl.) I was like, "oh, aren't you beautiful!!! What are you doing on the side of the road at around 5 p.m.? " (Note to self: trying to talk to an owl on the side of the road does make the owl fly away. What a beauty!!!)

Actually, my father calls them woodchucks. However, I found two on my drive home. I told me father and I asked him, "is it possible that the two were looking for each other?" Guess that is always a possibility.

Guess they wait for their level of the sun to go down so they are not scared by their shadow.

The wild animals that I like to watch on a drive down a deserted road are the deer and the hawk. Watching the hawk circle around its territory looking for its prey, you always know where the road kill is. The deer is so docile and graceful, it's hard not to be mesmerized by the peaceful existence around them. Once I saw a family of deer. I stopped my vehicle and spoke to them, and they actually wagged their tails like my dog does. Maybe that's one of the reasons why deer are hunted, because they are such docile creatures. Everything around them is so peaceful. I could not drive away until after they had gone.

We went to the park for a walk with the dog. Found a large tree in our usual path around the park's lake. I called the phone number that was nearby to rent a pavilion and told them about the tree. They got in contact with the Park Ranger on duty and came and took care of the tree. They said, "It wasn't down when they came through for their rounds." It just happened. Thanks to a beaver. You could see the wood shavings near the stump. LOL I am beginning to think that here is a reason why my dog did a lot of sniffing around that area. There were definitely more than baby bunnies there.