Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Got Eagle Poop?


daily haiku

mid august pauses

cool mornings bring animals

some not so welcome


I couldn't find a photo to act as inspiration for this entry so here is a photo of my favorite room-mate. She is so beautiful. With Foxes in the area it means that her favorite hunting targets - cottontails - just are not around, so she has delighted her hours with chasing chipmunks. They are so fast I doubt she will ever catch one, but one ran up into my vine mesh, got stuck in it and died. I wondered where the smell was coming from! I looked all over in the flower beds - never thought to look upwards until the other day when I thought there was a bunch of leaves caught in the mesh and got a surprise.

I had another surprise this morning. I have been aware that with cool mornings snakes could start finding their way to hibernate in and under the rocks etc around the house. This morning I went to step out of the screen door and had an eerie feeling that a snake was on the doorstep and sure enough there was a small one on the doormat that I bought to keep them away. Obviously it doesn't work!

I shut the door quickly, grabbed the mop, and then flipped it out onto the rock patio with the handle. It was quite shocked and coiled. I looked at it carefully and could not decide if it was a young bull snake or a rattler. It had no rattles but it's head looked suspicious so I decided to kill it to be certain. Any snake who sits on my doorstep qualifies for hazard pay! So I killed my first snake with the long handled shovel. I still have no idea what it was and just in case it was poisonous it is now buried in the flowerbed where it can fertilize the rose bush. (if cats eat the head they will die).

That leaves me with a problem. I need a different doormat that will repel snakes. During my morning walk I invented a refrigerated doormat - I am sure my neighbor, Butch Fjell, can make one - they'll stay away from the cold for sure. But the one I had the most giggles thinking about was the Vibrating Doormat. Snakes don't like vibrations and I could have fun standing on it; 5 minutes before bed at night would be bound to ensure good sleep! Visitors would have fun with it too!

Then of course, a person should use the power of a predator to keep them away so I am appealing to my friends and bloggers to send me 5lbs of Eagle Poop so I can spread it around the back door to keep them away. I wonder if the post office will deliver?