Of mammals, mostly, travels and a snake glimpse

- September 30, 2014

More tales from grounded hikers. Susan can walk a few blocks but our normal long distance treks are temporarily on hold. So... our meantime activities.

Take my word for it, youngster rats are sort of cute. They're also pretty fast, so don't have a photo to prove it. Roof rats are endemic in this area, at least since the white man arrived. The city even has a department to help control them - vector control. I used to be fairly tolerant if I saw evidence of rats outside. However a number of years ago we got back from a trip and found them inside our house, happily co-existing with our two cats, and sleeping in our bed under the pillow. Susan was definitely not happy. I was not pleased either. That was the end of tolerance. Vector Control came out, pointed out my failings, but gave me instruction. I've thoroughly rat-proofed the house, and rigorously inspect it several times a year for any evidence of rats.

This year the neighbors report rat resurgence. Our compost pile, a large covered hard plastic bin, frequently has rat burrows. I completely cover the top surface of the compost with snap traps, get one rat, and one rat tail, but the burrowing continues. Finally we order a raised rotating compost bin from Amazon, and that so far seems rat proof.

Re the cuteness. Deer, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, cats and other critters roam our neighborhood and as much of our yard as they can get to. We've got a fence that encloses the sides and back of the house and in that area we can grow deer appetizers (roses, etc.) without them being sampled. In front things are "deer tolerant", but we've learned how that really goes. Each year, that year's crop of deer discover our yard. They don't read. Deer tolerant is determined by take a bite, see if you like it. Always plant enough to survive sample nibbling.

We've got lots of birds, so have a bird feeder near the window at the side of the house in the fenced off area. Vector Control didn't like that. Feed the birds, the rats come. I could see this myself. Looking out the window where I am was the bird feeder, and one day I noticed the cute little rats, eating the spilled seeds directly beneath the feeder. So we stopped feeding for a couple of months, then resumed. The rats resumed. Finally I moved the feeder to the middle of the front yard, far enough away from shelter so that any rat beneath it was likely to be snatched by the owls at night or the hawks by day. Problem solved, but there is that phrase, unintended consequences.


Not Unexpected

Unintended Consequence

This was one afternoon a few days ago. Hold that last image in your mind. The next day Susan had to write all day, so I took off to circle a local reservoir on watershed land. We are in a high fire danger area, and things are very dry, so goats are in demand to reduce vegetation on public lands. This day they were on my hiking route, standing to graze if needed.