esrosedotblog

I am in the grips of the early summer slowdown.

A little more indoor time. Dog walks after supper. Long days, now on the wane.

There is a little more leisure to everything.

Marcus and I took a little extra time at the noon walk to get acquainted with our new neighbors. A pair of Roadrunners.

I am not sure where they actually live. Perhaps over the fence in the field on the other side.

In any case they are all over our quadrant of the compound. On the walls, watching us closely. They are fearless.

They do not go "beep beep". More of a rattle call. Brrrrpppp!

They seem most interested in Marcus, not me. He is simply curious.

Unlike our other airedales, he does not go nuts in the presence of these birds or much else for that matter. Very serene.

But he does know they are there and is interested. Since they are almost a daily distraction, they are even less interesting than the fresher scents on the ground whether from some kitty out of its territory or, perhaps, some night life forms that did not register at the gate. Rabbits and the like.

There is one day-rabbit though which/who plans his appearances for maximum impact on the airedale. Waiting long enough but not too long before exploding from the bushes. Usually scaring the human at the same time.

Nature.

Labels: wildlife

When I was a kid, my Dad managed a small grocery store in Canadensis, PA.

We lived not too far away.

This is the area that the fugitive sniper Eric Frein is now using as his hiding place.

And he is still hiding successfully.

Nine Days In, No Contact With Trooper Killer

A lot of this area is still basically wilderness. I was not a woodsman or a hunter but my Dad was and he roamed all over the area for his whole life and knew the ins and outs of hunting and being in the wild.

It is a little deceptive to realize this is also a resort community with thousands of summer travelers. But, like a lot of places, the tourists only go into small areas. A lot more space is devoted to deep dark woods.

If you wanted to get lost you could find some good hiding places within a short walk of my family's home. We played all the variations of good/bad guys, built forts, and basically dodged parents in these woods. Once we were in there no one would find us.

For us, getting in and getting out was second nature. It was a learned skill set from the first times that we were allowed to run with other kids. Passed on from one gang to another.

My memory of the area is so vivid that I believe I could still navigate it and be hidden for quite a long time. Food, water and shelter would be a problem. But survivalists don't have this concern as much. Sooner or later they are going to have to give in but that would be a lot later than anyone may think.

Other male cousins (girls never went into the woods) who hunted had far more experience with this. Favorite trees to sit in to await game were kept as deep dark secrets.

At some point my interest in all of this, being nil, led to a life apart. Books and other ways to wile away my time.

Labels: life, wildlife

Ant season is upon us.

For most of the year we are insect free. No flies. No mosquitoes, ever. Nothing of the creepy crawly type.

I suppose there would be roaches inside if we were not clean but there are none of those either.

What we have are Argentinian Ants.

They are small and come in multitudes. They invade in a line. Outside you can see ¼ to ½ inch bands of them industriously moving from one place to another. Almost endless.

Inside, they send scouts who find a smudge or spill, any cup or glass not rinsed, any food source at all.

Once the scout reports back, the long black line advances to the target. It is done with pheromones. See the video below.

There is only one remedy. Johnson and Johnson's Raid.

We will use a large can during the summer.

I do not like the idea of bug poison in the kitchen but I don't like ants either. A hard choice.

So I go for the Raid and then wipe it up. The first shot kills the scouts and the line as far as I can spray. Then I wipe it up and let the small residual be a prophylactic against further invasion.

This doesn't work very well because they almost always find an alternative route.

By the end of the season, I will have neutralized every invasion route. But by then it will be the fall and they will retreat to wherever they go for the 6 months of cooler weather.

It is not a big deal but big enough to get vexed every season and a bit surprised when we get attacked.

Labels: condo, nature, Palm Springs, wildlife

WILDLIFE

Yesterday morning, while putting in my many eyedrops, I saw a flash out of the side of my eye and thought that there was something wrong with the new eye.

Then, it flashed again.

Shit! A mouse in the bathtub, trying to get out.

Up the sides and slipping back and dropping a turd every time.

This could be the mouse that ran into the house the other morning when Booker went out to pee. He was right at the corner of the closed screen but there are at least two inches there so Booker flushed him, he ran and went somewhere. For awhile we thought into the broom closet. Booker looked three or four times.

So. Now in the tub. And I was not going to call Booker. No way. He would end the episode but not in a way that I would like.

So I threw my sleeping shorts over the mouse, maybe a rat, and then picked him up in the folds and went outside.

The last thing I saw of him he was running for the bushes.

I am so compassionate that I actually thought perhaps I should have released him out front which was the side he came in on. No, not this time.

Today about noon, there was a line of ants from the trash area to the sink. We have not had ants in a long while. Now we do.

There is no way out of having ants here. We can slow them. I use Johnson natural insecticide. Ground up marigolds or something. And, I brought out the ant traps again. They work too.

OK. So then later this afternoon, I was peeing, sitdown and heard gurgles. Twice. Three times. I thought maybe my stomach growling.

No. I got up to flush and there was a baby lizard in the toilet water.

Too much. I have tried to capture lizards before. They break their own tails, the wiggle, they are impossible.

I like lizards, I really do, so I gave him a fighting chance. I flushed the toilet three times.

They are amphibious and I am sure that there are many lizards in the sewer lines. If not, there is one now.

I feel a little guilty but not too much. On average, I saved a life, spared some lives, the ants I need to visit the ant traps, and did an chancy thing with a lizard. I don't feel too guilty, well, a little. I will get over it.

Here is what came up from Google images when I typed in lizard and mouse.

Labels: wildlife

FOR THE BIRDS

We have always had a fountain out here. Three or four over fifteen years at the other house.

They always draw the birds. We live in the desert after all. Water is scarce.

At the old house, the fountain was outside the front door. You could stand inside the entryway and watch them frolic and congregate. Or chase each other away.

In this new place, they already had a big three tier fountain set up. Not too well, actually. It tips some. We were going to right it but that hasn't happened in a year and a half, sooooo, not likely.

The important thing is that I keep it going all the time so that we can attract birds who come to bathe.

The little top tier is like a bathtub for a lot of them. They climb right in and flop and beat their wings. Against the south light it is spectacular. Water flies in all directions.

The water comes up and gooses them. I think that they love it. Great fun.

The dining area is set up so that it looks right at the fountain so while eating, sitting, reading, whatever, there is a great sideshow at all times.

A lot of birds are only there for a drink but the ones who bathe. What a show.

There are humming birds and a wide variety of other birds we don't know. Yellow, red, blue. Plain brown.

The biggest who hog the space are the mocking birds and the doves.

There aren't many doves right now. They are sitting "ducks" for raptors. We find little bunches of feathers from time to time. The dangers of the watering hole.

Labels: condo, wildlife

BIRD DOGGING

We saw "our" pair of roadrunners today, Booker and I.

They have the run of the desert piece that is across from our complex. A normal walking ground.

There is a big male who plays decoy to run us off from the nest, wherever it is.

He thinks that Booker and I are better at bird dogging than we are.

Booker likes to see them and so do I but there is no interest in finding the babies.

There is a hen too but he is so good at distracting us that we rarely see her.

There is probably pretty good food for them over there or they wouldn't be there. Baby rabbits are high on their list. There are some ground squirrels and, for sure, rats or "chipmunks" which look more like prairie dogs to me.

There are actually three contiguous desert plots of 5 acres or so. They have a big area to run in.

There is no doubt that they love to run and hate to fly. You can see their tracks all over the places that are soft and sandy.

It is great to see them and catch on to the real road runner mystique. No Wiley Coyote here. No Ajax Explosives Company. Just a very smart bird that knows how to do its job and keep his family safe.

Labels: bird, wildlife

POULTRY CAPER

This is one way that I miss living in the city.

Chicken Vanishes, Heartbreak Ensues

We too, for awhile, lived a bit on the edge of gentrification and it was a lot of fun.

A few years later, the frontier moved on and we were left with a lot of white gay men like us who were nice enough but didn't quite have the edge.

Just a little bit before, and a lot afterwards, the wave moved and the neighborhood ended up with all white heteros with children.

So much for neighborhood cohesion.

I have had chickens. I know how you can get attached. I loved the eggs but when it came time, I could not face the hatchet. My wife did it for me. An RN who had seen her share of blood and death.

There is nothing like the city where we live now. They call it a city. But no. It is not.

There are chickens though. Illegal as the ones in the article are no doubt illegal. We hear a rooster crow in the morning and it is heaven. The natural world. The divine chicken. A beautiful bird with a great heart.

Labels: Boston, urbia, wildlife

STRIKE UP THE BAND

Today, Booker and I were on the trail.

I looked down and there was this beautiful snake sticking about 6-8 inches out from under a rock.

He was a rich brown and black stripe. The stripes about half an inch to an inch wide.

I yelled out loud. I guess that is redundant. A yell is out loud, huh? Well, there are internal yells but this wasn't it. It was pretty loud so I will let "loud yell" stand.

Booker went on point and looked around. Ready to leap. He is amazingly attuned to our emotions.

If something that he could see had shown up it would have been in trouble.

The snake went back under the rock.

There are so many snakes in the desert here that it is difficult to identify them precisely but this one looks like a Sonora semiannulata semiannulata - Variable Groundsnake.

Labels: Booker, desert, wildlife

KING OF THE ROAD

When we first moved here,there were two king snakes living outside the wall in the ground cover.

Every time I went out there, whether to weed or check the sprinklers, one of them would somehow sneak up on me and spook the bejeezus out of me.

I never got used to it and, though I knew they were there and this would happen, I was never prepared. Really.

Then, we cleared the ground cover out little by little and the king snakes moved on to other territory. Maybe.

Today, for the first time in a long while, there was a young >king snake coming in the opening in the wall at the end of the bougainvillea planter. I was hoping he would turn right into the shrubbery but he did not. He turned left onto the terrace.

He was slow.

I was on the phone and I took my time.

About the time he got to another drainage hole in the wall, I went out and just walked up to him talking away.

He stopped.

Looked.

And I tapped my foot.

Not the same way that Senator Craig did.

And he went into the drainage hole and out.

It might be the king snakes who are creating caverns behind my dry wall out there.

But, I would rather think that it is the king snakes who are going to clean out whatever is in there. Or their babies. I hope that he isn't living on my lizards.

We will see.

A week or more ago it was a baby rattler out back. King snakes are immune to rattlers venom and will kill them.

I think we will be careful about how we leave the screen sliders open.

Franklin may have to ask to go out for awhile. I don't want snakes in the house and it would really be painful if he killed the king.

Oh. A question from the back of the room!

Yes

"Why are they called king snakes"?

They are called king snakes because they are the only snake that can and will kill other snakes.

Labels: garden, wildlife