Alice in Wilderness-Land

LATE SPRING '09
Well, yesterday my bear came back, although the only thing 'edible' had been put out to poison the pesky pack-rats.
The bear left several tracks that showed his pigeon-toed strut down the walkway and onto the front porch, where he had shoved one of 2 large plastic storage containers apart, looking for food. Finding none, he left without a fuss. I took pictures of his paw prints.

The little vermin pack rats dig holes around the perimeter of a cabin for tunnels that can collapse and break an ankle. They love to chew rubber-coated wire and things coated with rubber under the hood of any vehicle. They have been known to keep a truck or car dead in its tracks during winter if left outside the garage. Expensive. They will climb up inside the hood and claim the territory 'home.' Then they feast on the electric cables. They have even been known to hitch an under-the-hood ride, much to a neighbors surprise! In warmer weather they prefer rubber-coated things outdoors like extension cords and exposed lighting cords....YUM!

So I did what every other serious Mountain Woman does; I put out Bar-Bait poison.

Only thing is that I don't know if the 'packers' ever got into it, before the chipmunks did!
These little guys are every bit as mischievous as Disney showed them to be. The Bar Bait, thankfully, didn't effect them!

They are about as tall as a normal-sized hand when standing on their hind legs.... but they love to get into things, big or small, whether nailed-down or not. If confronted they indignantly march upright, strutting toward you loudly selling "wolf tickets" before scampering back into the forest.....Once time I surprised one, as he busily jumped from log-end to roofline trying to get into my hanging plants. Startled that I had gotten so close without him spotting me he leaped to the deck, ran right into the end of one of the lower logs on my cabin, and knocked himself out. After a moment, he jumped up, shook off the shock, then marched right up to me arms swinging. He chattered angrily as if cursing me out. I ran inside the cabin, and he ran back into the woods.
They are cute, mischievious and feisty.
They love to sneak onto the deck and crawl up inside my large covered gas grill, when I am inside the cabin. Then they boldly peek out from one of the vents. I make a lot of noise and stamp out onto the deck, and they scamper away until I go back inside. They are not put-off by the crushed red pepper water mix I use to keep the bears away from the grill....and will even harvest the pepper seeds from the ashes for their winter stash.


One afternoon as I casually glanced out at the deck, one of the little chippers was just climbing onto the deck. However, nstead of climbing into the grill, he decided to stop and take a bite out of one of my patio-potted tomato plants. The middle of the 3 pots had only 2 small green marble-like balls.
These are precious, because our tomato growing season is so short.
I had put plastic bird netting around the plants to keep the animals out.....but this little guy decided he was going for it anyway. He got himself hung-up in a loop of the netting and the more he squirmed to get free, the more tangled he became.
I thought -like the skilled behaviorist I have become- that this was a time to put a real scare into him, and then when he got free he would go tell the others to stay offa my deck.....
I got a spray bottle of water and loudly opened the door. He froze for a second then went into overdrive trying to get free. I stamped outside fussed loudly and squirted him as he became a round ball of wiggly fur. He was so scared that he began to drop poop pellets.
"WELL DONE" I said smugly to myself, and waited for him to wriggle free.......but he only got himself more tightly tangled. By now he had gotten his limbs free, but was dangling by his head and neck looking very much like a hanging man..and I realized," damn, now I gotta cut him free!"

I ran and got the longest scissors I could find, and crept back outside....but when he saw me coming he had a fit, and I thought he was gonna hang himself for sure. I was scared too.....I was afraid he was gonna get free and bit my ankle or something!
I began talking softly and calmly and tried to reassure him that I was not gonna hurt him...and I'd appreciate it if he would return the favor....

He stopped squirming and just stared at me with his huge dark brown almond-shaped eyes......I slowly held out the scissors and he didn't move again until I touched the netting, then wriggled himself till he was tail-up.......I pulled away....after several more tense moments of this, I was able to cut the last piece of net, and he was free.
He flew off my porch like a bat out of hell, but left my tomatoes and ankles intact!

AHHHH life in the wilderness.