BIRD AND RACCOON TALES - 7/29/20


 

BIRD AND RACCOON TALES

BY: PEGGY WILLIAMS aka Birdie of Mississippi

 

As the amount of birdseed increased daily that was required to keep my bird feeders full, I realized that more than birds were eating my sunflower seeds.  I have always known that the squirrels were eating my bird seed, but my feeders had never emptied this fast.  Then the next night they weren’t just emptied but my heavy duty Williamsburg styled bird feeder had its roof torn from its foundation and was lying scattered on the ground! I know my squirrels are agile and strong, but strong enough for this?  One morning I woke up extra early and it was still dark outside, but I decided to get up anyway and have extra quiet time with my Bible study.  As I was making my coffee I glanced out the window and saw something moving around my backyard under the security light.  And there in the darkness was a fat Momma raccoon swinging from the Shepherd’s hook with her mouth wide open guzzling sunflower seeds.  Down below were three baby raccoons catching the seeds that missed her mouth.  This woke me up fast as I realized exactly what had been going on during the night.  After a week of them terrorizing my bird feeders, them muddling up my bird water bowls with their dirty hands and feet, and me reading articles about “raccoon rabies” I decided they had to go!  But, then I read an article that said that even if you relocate raccoons they have a homing instinct and they come right back! You can take them 10 – 20 miles away and they will still come right back to their “home” – which is your home, too.

 

All this happening reminded me of another hot summer that we had several years ago.  I had my sprinkler running in my front yard and I came out of the house to turn off the water and move the hose.  As I rounded the corner I saw a raccoon bending low and she patted a pool of water on the ground and then delicately licked the water off her hands. And I thought “how cute!” She got her water and then moved on.  After moving my hose I went back inside the house to start supper.  As I passed by my basement door I saw thin long black raccoon fingers reaching out from under the door searching to see how she might be able to get inside my house.  I have to admit that I let out a blood curdling scream and Dennis came running and saw the little fingers creepily moving under the door.  He said I’ll get Lucy (our Labrador at the time) and we will go down to the basement and get that raccoon out!  So they did – Lucy went down the basement steps first, then Dennis following close behind her.  In about 30 seconds up comes Dennis and then comes Lucy and chasing them both is the raccoon! Out the backdoor they each run and begin to circle the house with the raccoon running close to their heels.  Dennis and Lucy dash into the house and the raccoon thankfully ran away and we didn’t ever see it again.  But, the memory of the chase has been a funny story to enjoy and retell over the years.

 

I have cut back to one day at a time of bird seed and now I have started back to putting ground red pepper powder in the bird seed.  Apparently raccoons don’t like the smell or the hot taste any more than the squirrels do, so I am in hopes that this will cause both squirrels and raccoons to stop coming to my feeders.  God is our Guide and I am asking Him to guide me into what will be the best way to get these critters to go live somewhere else other than my yard so that I can get back to what I love most and that is to “Look at the birds of the air….” Matthew 6:26.

 


My photos may be viewed & “LIKED” on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest - “Birdie of Mississippi”.

E-mail: birdieofmississippi@gmail.com - Read my Blog @ http://www.birdieofmississippi.blogspot.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GETTING STARTED WITH BIRDIE OF MISSISSIPPI

Image
Birds, of course, have been flying and living around me all my life.   I studied basic knowledge of birds in elementary school and I was taught the name of our State Bird – the “Mockingbird”, but I’m not certain that I would have known what it was if I actually saw one! But I could recognize local birds that live in the South such as robins, cardinals and a few more, but it didn’t extend too far past that.   I have always been a very “busy” and “task oriented” person, but last spring things changed. During my early morning quiet time with God I read a Scripture “Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.” Job 37:14.   In reading this I realized that I regularly fail to appreciate sunrises and sunsets, spring flowers in bloom, and yes “birds” because I don’t venture outside to register these happenings!   I have never been an outdoor person because I dislike heat, getting sweaty, bugs and getting bitten!   All, of course, happens to every person that lives in  Mississippi.
Read more

WHAT WE COULD BE MISSING

Image
  WHAT WE COULD BE MISSING BY: PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi You may not be a PBS fan because lots of people aren’t interested in educational programming, but I am becoming more and more of a fan of both PBS and National Geographic as I re-coop on the couch from my fractured bones.   Not every program is educational, but since I enjoy math and science I gravitate toward programs about the earth and about outer space.   The nature programs have helped me learn about the grand scope of our environment down to tiny details about our planet.   There are programs about what we see when we look through our telescopes here on earth and also about the photos taken of our solar system from Voyager 1 and 2. And the more I watch and learn the more that I want to become like Solomon and have wisdom!   The programs show me how inter-woven every detail of nature and man are.   And even the word “nature” is such an all encompassing word!   Flowers and trees, birds and bees, and water
Read more

THE BIRDS AT NOTRE DAME

Image
Yesterday was a cool rainy day, so I pulled up my recorded NOVA episode called “Saving Notre Dame.” On April 15, 2019 a fire broke out at 6:18 pm that nearly burned down the 850 year old cathedral.   As I have revealed before, I am sort of a science geek. I loved this episode not only because I am interested in finding out more about the fire, but because this NOVA episode shows that there is a lot of science involved in resolving the many issues that have stemmed from the fire.   The damage is so bad that it is taking a large team of researchers to figure out how to salvage as much of the original Notre Dame as possible and to restore the cathedral to its former glory.       The fire began in the attic and quickly spread to the roof because the dry timbers under the roof burned so quickly.   As the lead roof and spire burned they sent out toxic lead into the air and coated the whole cathedral and its stain glass windows.   The researchers had to determine a way to remove the lead
Read more