All Creatures Great and Small

One lesson I've learned in the past two months is country = critters.  For fifteen years, I've heard stories about the creatures who have made their way inside, from the laid-back rat who, in 1990, casually sat atop the bread cart eating bread until Rob's grandpa killed it with a tennis racket, to the bat that my mother-in-law hit with a pillow and trapped underneath a trashcan before chucking it out her bedroom window onto the roof in the wee hours of the morning.  I've heard the staccato sound of little chipmunk claws skittering between the walls and had the distinct pleasure (insert eye roll) of smelling them through the plaster as their little bodies decomposed.  Of course, I wasn't A RESIDENT of the house when those events happened like I am now. 

At the very least, we will have mice.  They're probably already casing the joint after smelling all the fruit loops my kids manage to drop and hide beneath the sofa.  I repeat: WE WILL HAVE MICE.  I know this.  I will come to terms with this arrangement.

In the meantime, we've been encountering all sorts of wildlife out here in the bush, beginning with an opossum I photographed quite literally in a bush.

Saw him dead in the road a few days later, poor stinky soul

And then there's all kinds of bugs that we occasionally saw before we moved but not like we do now--woolly worms (that's definitely most likely the scientific name).  These things are everywhere.  Anyone remember the old wives' tale about the coloring and what it means for the upcoming winter?  I feel like black means harsh weather and brown means cold.  (Just kidding, I made that up.  I don't remember what either color indicates.)

Snow, cold, snow?  Anyone know?

This one night we thought we had a new cat.  He (and it was a 'he' because I checked) showed up out of nowhere and didn't leave for two days.  We finally broke down and fed him and gave him a proper name and were contemplating the local spay and neuter clinic costs when he disappeared.  So.  No cat for us.  (Probably why WE WILL HAVE MICE).

And because she's our favorite critter.......

I forgot to mention there was also a pack of rabid (probably) coyotes howling in our front lawn one night and a couple of cats doing some weird 50 Shades of Grey stuff in the side yard.  Both times, I thought the sounds were one of our kids was crying.  Boy was I wrong!