Wildlife

I came home from the gym yesterday, parked the bike in the barn and headed for the house. The Missus was on the front porch giving me the keep it quiet and sneak on up here look. She said she looked out the patio doors a little bit ago and a peacock was staring back at her. It was now on the back side of the house, so I got my camera and went looking. Sho 'nuff. A big old peacock pecking around under the pine tree.

Don't know where it came from but it strutted around the back yard for a while and then walked into the woods. I happened to glance out the patio doors before going to bed and it was roosting on the railing.

In between peacock spottings, the Missus stepped on a little garter snake. Shes's not a fan of snakes and this wouldn't have been so bad except she was barefoot. And it was in the house. She was just getting ready to sit down on the couch and she lets out a warhoop that would wake the dead. I managed to get it pinned down and then took it out back and tossed it over the fence.

Not sure how the snake got in. You would think with an inside cat and a puppy, plus two outside cats, there wouldn't be too much in the way of wildlife that would make it inside, certainly not without notice. We've had a bird or two and a squirrel fall down the chimney into the fireplace. Had a couple of bats get in over the years. Had a raccoon get into a non-accessible part of the attic one time - that was fun trying to get rid of that one. A combination of sheet metal skills and a .22 rifle took care of it, however. I've been battling a raccoon or two out in the barn recently as well. They figured out how to push the weight off the top of the metal garbage can where I keep the cat food. Then they tip the can over and gorge themselves. I put a tarp strap across the lid but it wasn't a real tight fit. The next morning the can ended up about fifteen feet away from where I normally keep it and somehow they got the hook off the tarp strap. I tightened things up a little and when I was out there this morning, the can was knocked over but the lid was still on. When I was at my brothers he had to have some wiring replaced on two different vehicles due to the pack rats. At least we don't have those to contend with.

This is Marlin Perkins signing off for Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.