# noisy visitor



## Ernie (Aug 11, 2008)

Just shoo'ed an opossum out of the garage. Been gone all day, so the door was closed (keep the door open a little when we're home), so it must've dropped in from the roof vent or has been in there since last night. Saw a couple bottles and one phal knocked over at the evening check, but didn't think much of it. Then, during the kick butt men's 4 by 100 relay (rock on US swimmers!), Pickles (the cat) and I were startled by rustling in the attached garage with a door adjoining the living room. A flashlight revealed the bright-eyed creature thankfully near the door. Got it out without incident. Didn't seem to have much interest in plants, just wanted a cozy spot I guess. 

-Ernie


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## tocarmar (Aug 11, 2008)

Ernie,
I get them all the time on my back porch, I also have been trying to get pics of a grey fox that comes in the yard.

Tom


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## likespaphs (Aug 11, 2008)

d'oh!
i took my grill out last night and scared off a baby snake, maybe a northern brown snake but i dunnno.... mine wasn't loud but gave me a start even though the sucker was only about six inches long. 
silly wildlife goin' around thinkin' this is their world too....


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## NYEric (Aug 11, 2008)

Oh you Country folk! :rollhappy:


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## Heather (Aug 11, 2008)

likespaphs said:


> d'oh!
> i took my grill out last night and scared off a baby snake, maybe a northern brown snake but i dunnno....




Ooh, your favorite!!


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## Leo Schordje (Aug 11, 2008)

Country Folk? Man, our cities are becoming some strange Sci-Fi dystopia, with all sorts of wild things creeping around. 

While meandering home at 3 am from an evening of Debauchery and Gluttony :evil: in the trendy "Old Town" neighborhood of Chicago, I was heading home via Division St. as I passed just west of Clyborn, on the grounds of the Cabrini Green housing projects, I saw a coyote loping across the lawn. I think he was hunting rats. This is as totally Urban a setting as one can get. East from there, Division St is the bottom of a canyon of 4 to 40 story tall condo developments, west on Division, the Cabrini is itself a collection of 25 story high rises, though only 3 are left, the others have been demolished. There are a lot of factories and partially clear demolition sites, and new construction sites. Also near is Goose Island (Ernie will think "Beer", famous for its brewery) and the Chicago River, which is probably the greenway the coyotes used to get into the city. Kind of neat to see, it was a bold coyote, didn't seem to care that I stopped to look at it. Then it loped off, and ducked behind an aboandoned church that is scheduled for demo. Then I heard gun shots, shouting, and a couple squad cars zipped by lights ablaze, I thought it best to get my car in gear and get my suburban "behind" out of there before Evil happens to include me in. (this is a snippet of my upcoming book a revisit of "Tales from the City" set in Chicago instead of SF):wink:

Nature is moving in on us.


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## Candace (Aug 11, 2008)

When I was in college and lived in Davis I lived in a house with several roomates. We had 3 cats between us. They used to live mainly outside so we fed them out back as well. We noticed the food was getting eaten quickly and thought some stray(s) were helping themselves so decided to sit and watch one evening. To our amazement a mother 'possum with babies on her back ate right along side the cats. She was shoulder to shoulder with them and they looked quite comfortable with each other! The mother was so ugly but the babies were adorable. We watched the mother eat her fill and then go back under the house where she obviously had taken up residence. We freaked out a bit about possible rabies and the safety of the cats. But then came to the conclusion that if they were o.k. with her so were we. We fed her the rest of the year and then she was gone. She was very interesting to watch.


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## Heather (Aug 11, 2008)

That's a cool story, Candace. What a neat thing to observe. 

I agree with Leo though - a few years ago, we had birds and squirrels, the usual "suburban" wildlife. Now we have a flock of turkeys which wake us up every morning at sunrise and several Mass. towns are overrun with deer which is causing a huge surge in lyme disease! 

We need to extend the hunting season a bit and do a bit of "management" if you ask me.


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## NYEric (Aug 11, 2008)

I am appalled! 
Just kidding, although animal control should handle that otherwise the hunters will probably be just shooting other hunters! :rollhappy: 
Leo, I've been thru the Cabrini projects area, nothing would suprise me there!


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## Heather (Aug 11, 2008)

NYEric said:


> although animal control should handle that otherwise the hunters will probably be just shooting other hunters!



Clearly someone has lived in the city for too long.


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## Leo Schordje (Aug 11, 2008)

Biggest problem around Cabrini, is that they don't hit what they are aiming at. If they would just learn to shoot better, we'd have a whole lot less in the way of gang bangers and we'd have fewer dead innocent bystanders.

Or am I being a bit harsh?


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## NYEric (Aug 11, 2008)

Not at all!


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## Ernie (Aug 11, 2008)

Leo Schordje said:


> Biggest problem around Cabrini, is that they don't hit what they are aiming at. If they would just learn to shoot better, we'd have a whole lot less in the way of gang bangers and we'd have fewer dead innocent bystanders.
> 
> Or am I being a bit harsh?



Hammer, nail, hit on head. 

-Ernie


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## SlipperFan (Aug 11, 2008)

Leo Schordje said:


> If they would just learn to shoot better, we'd have a whole lot less in the way of gang bangers and we'd have fewer dead innocent bystanders.
> 
> Or am I being a bit harsh?


I think you are asking too much -- that people who have guns would learn how to shoot them...


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## swamprad (Aug 12, 2008)

At least your 'possum didn't come on in the living room, as a chipmunk did at my house a couple weeks ago. It took me, 5 painters, 3 children, a broom, and the cat to finally run him out the door.


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## Ernie (Aug 12, 2008)

Found some knocked over plants today. Probably not from a new visit though, just didn't see them the other day. My leuochilum is a little dinged up. Didn't munch, just bowled stuff over. Otherwise ok. 

-Ernie


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## NYEric (Aug 12, 2008)

Have your little friend send me some plants.


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## cnycharles (Aug 13, 2008)

Heather said:


> Clearly someone has lived in the city for too long.



well, he is right in a way... us native upstate hunters often have to avoid city hunters that have crossed the bqe to shoot at anything that moves! 
horses have been blasted in broad daylight in the middle of fields with the proud hunter thinking they had shot a moose! (that they didn't have a license to hunt anyhow) also much less funny stories that involve fatalities


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## NYEric (Aug 14, 2008)

Just ignore her. oke:


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## John M (Aug 15, 2008)

I believe that about city hunters. When I was a kid, living in a rural area (not the wilderness), I was shot at by a hunter in my own back yard. While property lots in the city are small and mostly landscaped, in the country, even non-farm properties are bigger and usually have some natural wild growth. I was only about 300 feet from my house when I was shot at by a hunter. Luckily, he was a poor shot. I could hear the buckshot whizzing through the tree branches and foliage above my head, followed by a shower of shreaded leaves! Scared the crap out of me!


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## NYEric (Aug 15, 2008)

When we used to have a house in the Catskills, every year we would read about the throngs of hunters rushing up to have a big beer fest and shoot each other!


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## Candace (Aug 15, 2008)

John, that is some scary stuff. I remember hearing about a little boy who was playing in his back yard(don't remember the town) and he was shot and killed by a hunter. Like you, in his own back yard!! People in the town, were obviously in an uproar about it and had a huge town meeting to discuss the issue. The hunters in the area wanted all parents to put orange vests on their kids before letting them go outside to play...can you imagine??


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## NYEric (Aug 15, 2008)

These morons were injuring other hunters who were wearing orange!


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## GaryB (Aug 18, 2008)

And don't forget the cougar that was shot and killed on the north side of Chicago earlier this summer!


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## Leo Schordje (Aug 18, 2008)

Possum really don't taste very good, or so my Southern IL in-law tells me. I imagine cougar is a bit tough, and gamey, but the meat on skewers done Satay style it might be okay. Curry & or peanut sauce can cover a lot of off flavors.


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## swamprad (Aug 18, 2008)

My father enjoys telling about catching 'possums when he was a boy, and selling them to nearby families for a nickel. Some people considered them a delicacy, apparently.


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## NYEric (Aug 18, 2008)

Possum and DUMPLINGS!


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## cnycharles (Aug 18, 2008)

I would probably eat squirrel stew, and definitely rabbit, but since possums eat things that look worse than they do (except when they get a tasty treat of pet food which actually is pretty bad sometimes, :meat meal: ), I will pass!


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## NYEric (Aug 19, 2008)

It's funny but rabbit's gaminess makes me choke.


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## swamprad (Aug 19, 2008)

Another choice dish of my childhood was squirrel brains, scrambled with eggs. Highly nasty.


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## li'l frog (Aug 19, 2008)

Help! Administrator! Is it time to end this gastonomic nightmare? Ugh!


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## NYEric (Aug 19, 2008)

You know, in Hong Kong you used to be able to get monkey brains scooped out of the still struggling monkey. I wonder if you can still do that?


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## Leo Schordje (Aug 19, 2008)

Hey Lois Little Frog
Should I break out my 1996 tale of dining in the jungle cafe in Malaysia? Monitor Lizard soup, BBQ sugar gliders & jungle rat, butterfish and that spicy simmering pot with the creatures with way too many legs. Best was the butterfish. All topped off with coconut palm blossom wine, a frothy, yeasty concoction that continued to ferment in your glass at the table. They brewed the batch up the night before. Tastes like a yeasty Pina Colada. A favorite of Malaysian fishermen. Dessert was Durian, what a stench when they cracked that 75 pound spiny melon open. Like sewer gas. But it tastes like honey-candied garlic. Really interesting. 

Oops I guess I just did break out that tale. 

(For a few seconds I felt bad about the sugar gliders, but they were really tasty, and I had no control over the menu. Most of what I ate I found out the names of only after I had eaten. My translator was not at the same table with me.)


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## goldenrose (Aug 20, 2008)

Well....... li'l frog did you think it could get worse??? These guys are trying to out do one another ...... male hormones, I guess!


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## NYEric (Aug 20, 2008)

Not at all, just interesting food stories. Remember the ruleof nature, "Everything is food!"


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