There was a buck killed by a mountain lion in the open space just a stone's throw from here. On a hot August day, we smelled it. The following day, we followed our noses and found it. We have watched the carcass decompose; it's been real. Chigiy is waiting for the skull to be revealed. We check on it periodically.
We granted temporary asylum to a couple roosters that Chigiy's husband Rich found on Old Santa Cruz Highway. Thank goodness for Chigiy, she blogs all the important stuff. The story begins here, http://www.chigiy.com/the_gardeners_anonymous_b/2011/10/roadsi.html
and wraps up here.
http://www.chigiy.com/the_gardeners_anonymous_b/2011/10/happy-ending-for-lunch-and-dinner.html
A big rattlesnake came to visit one day this summer. He was hanging out in the shrubbery, pretending to be a sprinkler. I am very much a live-and-let-live type, but unfortunately, this snake was just too close for comfort; a non-negotiating hazard to cats and dogs and kids and horses. So my husband dispatched it with a .22. He then skinned it and cooked it up. Everyone tried the meat, even my vegetarian son. We thought it tasted somewhere between chicken and calamari. I don't crave it. Ever. But my husband had a very nice belt made.
My daughter watched a Sharp Shin hawk take down a crow directly in front of our house. An entire murder of crows set to dive-bombing and cussing out the hawk. Undeterred, hawk merely spread his wings like a vampire's cloak, covering his victim. Not one to let nature run its course, my daughter flung open the sliding glass door through which we watched this spectacle, and she and the dog exploded onto the crime scene. The hawk attempted to lift off with its prey, but the crow was too heavy. Outnumbered, and beleagured by crows, a dog, and an outraged 11 year-old, the poor hawk abandoned his efforts. The crow, meanwhile, flipped himself over and flew off in the opposite direction.
And, finally, my daughter has been obsessed with horses pretty much since we arrived here about 6 years ago. While she has leased various horses over the years, she has always longed for a horse of her own. I was stalling and dragging my feet to the best of my ability, when alas, one day she discovered the web site for the SPCA for Monterey County. Shortly thereafter, we adopted not one, but TWO horses. I won't elaborate now because I have no doubt that the hijinks of these two equines will henceforth dominate the pages of this would-be blog. Suffice it to say they are wonderful, adorable, beautiful, delightful, marvelous . . . and a dream come true.
No comments:
Post a Comment