Pets
We have a collection of pets: cats, mice, deer, mallards, and wood ducks. They all eat well here. Not all are invited inside the houses, however.
Purrpuss
Our indoor kitty was born on April 15, 1984. She passed away on May 16, 2003 at the ripe old age of 19 years, one month, and a day. She even made the back cover of my SIAM book and is believed to be the first feline author of SIAM (talk about SIAM's diversity!)
We have lots more pictures, but I have not yet sorted them out. There are some nice pictures from December, 2000.
May 6, 2001. One of her favorite spots: on the living room couch. Socks
Socks is our formerly outdoor kitty (now indoor). He adopted us during the winter of 2001. He is the size of a medium dog actually. Marietta trained him to follow her around the woods and property. He eats the most food I have ever seen a cat eat... then even more.
David had to figure out for homework one evening in September, 2003 what religion and nationality Socks most resembles. He hardly ever meows. He usually just jingles in different ways to communicate using the identification tags on his collar. If anyone goes into the kitchen, he is right there by his food bowl looking desperate for food (even if he just finished dinner). Obviously he is a Shaker from Hungary. OK, so this was a little less than serious.
May 6, 2001. David, holding Socks on the front steps. Socks spent a lot of time on the doormat at the top of the steps. May 6, 2001. Me, holding Socks. David took the picture seated where he was in the just above picture. The stream is in the background, but you cannot see it. Socks liked to hunt there (unless there was a deer there). May 6, 2001. Socks escapes! I caught him and had my picture taken. I think that he hoped I would open the garage door and let him inside. Moosies
No, not the big ones up in Canada and northern New England, the little ones that cats like to chase... moosies or lab mice. We have had lab mice since 1982. Back then we lived in an apartment and were not supposed to have pets. We referred to them as moosies since no one in their right mind would assume we actually kept a moose in an apartment.
They become Purrpuss' pets. She watched them in their cage and they ignored her. A few hardy ones enjoyed baiting her. Doc (who lived for 3 years in the middle to late 1980's) used to climb on top of his wheel and bite her tail if if came over the top of the cage. Purry did not like that much. One of our pairs were Gold and Silver, two quite nice Swiss mice (CD-01), outbred females named after Pokémon Gameboy games.
May 6, 2001. On the arm of Marietta, wiggling away, wondering what they are doing outside of their home. Mallards
We have lots and lots of mallards. The most that ever came to breakfast at once was 77 (that we were able to count, that is). They have lots of ducklings each summer, except when we have an early, extreme drought.
May 6, 2001. Two males, sitting on a rock in the middle of our pond. David took this picture. Notice the nice reflection of the trees in the pond. Woodies
We have had wood ducks on the pond for several years. In 2000, we had two sets of ducklings. We have had lots of woodies since then. They are smaller than mallards and much, much more shy. They have a screech for alerting the other ducks when anything is nearby (cats, deer, people, raccoons, etc.). They are really neat.
March 30, 2002. A pair each of mallards and wood ducks, respectively. You can really see the difference in size. Normally the woodies hide in a flock of ducks or come to eat after the mallards. These two pair seem to get along. Peter Rabbit
We have lots of bunnies. They are all called Peter except when a mom with a baby is in the yard. They do not see well, but freeze nicely when they think that they are being seen. They are very photogenic as a result.
May 7, 2001. Breakfast is good. The ducks and the squirrels agree, too. Socks was nearby and did not chase Peter. Deer
We have deer living in our woods. In 2000, we had a month long visitor from Linz, Austria (Gundolf Haase). Bambi came by his bedroom window every afternoon to see what he was doing (usually working away at the desk there). Our garden is full of plants that deer do not find attractive. The only ones who try the garden are babies... only once, however.
The most amazing deer are the ones that walk up the stairs to the second floor deck and eat the flowers in the fall. These are not afraid of people at all. After all, would you challenge a grown deer on on the second floor of your house? He or she could jump right through the railing and then you have to call a carpenter. Purrpuss runs over to a window, sees the deer, and backs up (literally) very quietly.
Wild Turkeys
We even have wild turkeys, primarily in the fall. Our mailman can give us a rundown on their daily migration. He has been tracking them for years. There are usually about a dozen females for each male. They make quite a racquet when called.
Thanksgiving Day, 1999: Ten turkeys, what a day for them to show up. (The tenth is hard to spot.) There are 50+ mallards in the picture, too. Raccoons, Fox, Tree Frogs, Pheasants, Armadillos, Opossums, and Skunks
We have lots more creatures outdoors. The raccoons have made a comeback after the rabies' epidemic of the late 1980's. We occasionally see a red fox. They like to live in open garages. They are much like a very pretty dog, but they are different.
Every spring and again in the early summer, we get to listen to the tree frogs, or peepers, at night. The frogs are about 2.5cm in length and can be heard a long distance off. We used to have lots of pheasants in the fall. New Jersey used to let 50,000 loose for hunters and some were bright enough to migrate to Connecticut.
There are a few armadillo families near where David went to elementary school. Some people who lived in Texas for 20+ years brought them back when they retired back to the neighborhood.
Skunks live everywhere in the USA, not just in Washington, DC. The opossum are pretty neat, too, and nowhere near as stinky. Ours are quite different than the ones in Australia, however (ours walk on all fours, theirs hop on their oversized back feet).
