Sunday, May 22, 2011

Too much "sub" and not enough "urb"

While I love my house and land, right now I'm wishing I lived in a sterile apartment or condo or bubble.

I have mice in the garage who are occasionally invading the breezeway, so after talking to a pro, I have poison set outside and kill traps set on the breezeway. :(

Last night, I let Little Miss out for her last bathroom break of the night, and was surprised when instead of running to the end of the chain and squatting, she stopped at the end of the house and barked, with all of her back fur up. I do mean ALL, every hair from the top of her head to the base of her tail was standing straight up. I called her and she came in, and I thought it was a skunk or possum or raccoon, and that it would move on and we could try again.

Half an hour later, I put her out again and stayed on the breezeway. I had no more than sat down when Little Miss body slammed the door, barking frantically. I jumped up and opened the door and let her in. She was still barking hysterically and I noticed she'd urinated all over the top step, and just then a deer came charging around the corner. It stopped when it saw or smelled me, and I yelled at it (as if a deer speaks English). It stood there for about thirty seconds, made that angry huffing noise at me and turned and left. Little Miss was absolutely barking her head off the whole time, and I think she was both scared and angry. Every other dog on the street was barking too. I put her Gentle Leader on to get her to be quiet, fed her a couple of treats and petted her until her fur was smooth again, and then I took off the Gentle Leader and we went to bed.

This morning when I let her out around 7, the damn deer was still there, and again Little Miss came running for the door, barking like a crazy thing. At ten I went out with her and saw the deer again. It ran off when it saw me, but not far, and didn't actually leave the property until I stamped my foot and started to walk towards it. My friend clowder thinks it has a baby in the bushes somewhere, eek. So after I have a cool bath and a nap, I'll be heading over to the discount store for a SuperSoaker or similar water gun, and I'll be guarding the dog on her potty trips.

Yeah, a condo sounds good right now...

4 comments:

Murphy Jacobs said...

You are a critter magnet!

I will bring Cal and Zeus. Between them they will scare off all the critters (well, Cal will. Zeus will just be cute.)

Anonymous said...

I only have snakes and rabbits so far.

I would either like to live in a condo or really live out in the country so I can shoot at things as necessary.

Z

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, and start saving your pee in a jar or bucket. To get a sufficient amount you will likely need to save your pee at work too. I would say refrigerate it or keep it on ice if possible. Take it and dribble it around the yard on a daily basis. Human pee is alleged to repel deer.

:)

Z

Becs said...

Condos where I live are a good idea only if you like the smell of Indian cooking. Apartment and condo complexes from NY down to northern VA are mostly inhabited by Indians.

I've thought about a condo, but I'm so unaccustomed now to not having people stamp around overhead or hearing babies shrieking that I don't think I could go back to it.

Only wildlife here = squirrels and bunnies.

Word verification: Nomarom.