Foxes, bats and lightning bugs: a walky MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I live in an older suburb, pretty close to downtown Columbus. So you’d think a walk around the neighborhood wouldn’t yield too much in the way of wildlife sightings. You’d be wrong. There are streams and woods nearby, so you can see all kinds of interesting creatures if you’re actually paying attention. Which I confess I’m not always.

I’ve lived here nearly 12 years :eek: and have seen the following within 5 blocks of my house: deer, raccoons, possums, groundhogs, rabbits, hawks, and probably others I’m forgetting.

Last night, after wandering on our main street, stopping to get food, and people watching, my brother and I went for a long walk. It was just starting to get dark, so the fireflies were just starting to show off. We have lots this year - yay!

There were fireflies on all the lawns we walked past and we decided to go find the park a friend had told us about. It’s not far away, but kind of hidden, so we missed the entrance at first. After backtracking, we found the road that leads into it. There’s a small wooded area in the park and we could see right away that there were lots of fireflies in there. It was really cool, almost like Christmas lights. We wandered around in the woods for about 10 minutes admiring all the fireflies and then moved on.

We kept walking as it got darker and darker and wandered into a corner of the neighborhood where I figured we could see more fireflies. I’ve been through there at dusk lots of times. Have I ever noticed that there are…bats? Of course not. I hadn’t seen bats in ages and ages. It was really cool to see them cruising silently overhead.

Eventually, we wandered on and then cut through to the next street on a little road I’d never noticed (it looks like a driveway). As we looked up the street, we saw: two little foxes crossing the street.

Funny to see the area by light today, filled with professional cyclists and crowds wandering around watching the races. It’s hard to imagine all the little critters when there are waves of bikes flying past you.

Just a little neighborhood story to get us started. Hijack away!

GT

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Every now and then I see a bat or two flying over the fields between towns. They’re really cool. When I lived at the dorms, you could see raccoons if you were out late enough. We had it better than the college near Santa Barbara - they have skunks that just wander freely whenever (or at least after dark). They’re really darn cute.

I had my first kimono lesson today. I won’t bore y’all with details that’ll be Greek - or rather Japanese - to you, but even though we covered things I ‘knew’ I learned a lot. She was impressed at how much I had taught myself out of books and that I had nearly everything (I need to get a proper under-slip. Yes, you have to wear two. Of course you sweat so much that you need those layers to keep from having to wash the kimono.)

I still haven’t had dinner. I got home and didn’t want to wear clothes so I haven’t really left my room since three.

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Second!

I’ll post about bats later. Back to bed.

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Happy birthday, Soapy!!!

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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’ YAWN ‘Tis <snerk> 69 <snerk> Amurrkin out with a predicted high of 96 and a fifty percent chance of rain. However, no breath holdin’ shall be done. I mean, we had tstorm warnin’s and such last night but it does not look like we had much in the way of rain. :dubious:

Jake OP gt! I live in a kinda rural area so I get to see wild critters. The one I worry about the most is deer cause hittin’ a deer is not a good thing. When the farm down the road had cows (it doesn’t anymore) I see the occasional stray cow wanderin’ around. Then there was the time there were cows wanderin’ about cause they found a break in the fence. Entertainin’ time that was!

And now this…

**
HAAAPPPYYY BIIRRRTTTHHHDDDAAAYYY TOOOOOO YOUUUUUU!!!
HAAAPPPYYY BIIRRRTTTHHHDDDAAAYYY TOOOOOO YOUUUUUU!!!
HAAAPPPYYY BIIRRRTTTHHHDDDAAAYYY DEEEAAARRR SSSOOOAAAPPPYYY!!!
HAAAPPPYYY BIIRRRTTTHHHDDDAAAYYY TOOOOOO YOUUUUUU!!!
**

Ok, now I go in search of more caffiene and some brekkie for rumbly tummy. Then, alas, irk purtification must commence.

Happy Monday Y’all!

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I dodged a [del]bullet[/del]deluge this morning. I walked the 3 miles to irk, and felt a small raindrop on occasion. When I got to the office, I headed directly to the coffee kitchen to make brekkies. When I finished about 15 minutes later, I looked out the window, and it was pouring. Still is, too.

When we lived in Cottonfield County, our security light was the favorite of all the bats in the area. I would watch them as long as I could, until the skeeters did me in. The funniest thing I saw with them wwas one time when a bat zeroed in on one of those big green moths like the mascot in the Lunesta commercials. For those who don’t know, those moths are as big as the bats themselves.

The mid-air collision was spectacular, and the bat plummeted about 15 feet to the ground, thrashed about for a minute, then flew away. The moth kind of fluttered to the ground, and was still there when I left for irk the next morning.

Time for another cup of Wake The Hell Up…

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Pictures?

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Happy birthday, Soapy!

Up and supposed to be taking our international student guy to school (first day, new city, new public transport experience) but he has not yet emerged from his [DEL]den[/DEL] bedroom. I’ll go knock in a sec.

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Morning. I get bunnies and squirrels in my neighborhood.

Happy Birthday Soapy!!!

: waves at LiLi :

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Great OP, gt! I live in an urban area but we are a couple of streets away from a park so there’s usually wildlife aplenty in there. We see ducks, geese, swans, moorhens and the occasional kingfisher on the water in the park (there’s a couple of large lakes with islands for the birds to nest) and lots of squirrels. In the winter we often walk through the park on the way into town at the weekends and take food for the critters, the squirrels are tame enough to come and take nuts from your hand if you keep still for long enough.

Happy birthday, Soapy! and a very happy Monday to everyone else!

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**HIPPO BIRDIE SOAPY!
**
Bobbio, you should read thiscontinuing saga of bats in the belfry. I’ve been equal parts amused and glad it’s not my house.

Since I moved to The Higher Elevations two years ago, I’ve seen all kinds of animals that previously existed only as pictures. Groundhogs are common sights along the sides of the roads–not as roadkill, but eating the grass. I’ve only seen one roadkill groundhog in two years. I saw a pileated woodpecker throwing shreds of bark at me on the mountain behind my apartment. There’s a fox in the backyard. Culinary Boy and I have seen two bears up near the Parkway. I saw a bobcat run through Irish Brother’s front yard one night. Wild turkeys wander around wild and free–there’s a flock of them in the Rich Neighborhood near my place, too.

Speaking of the Rich Neighborhood, Detailed AGM is renting a basement apartment from some people who just bought a house there. He’s on the lookout for the turkeys. He said he’s heard them. He doesn’t believe in bears, though. He’s forty-two, lived in the mountains all his life, and he’s never seen a bear. I don’t know how that’s possible. I’ve seen two and gotten shoved out of the way of two more that ripped a gutter off Irish Brother’s house.

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Happy Birthday, Soapy!

We see plenty of wildlife in my neighborhood. Possums, raccoons, squirrels, assorted snakes. Also big ugly buzzards that eat the roadkill. When I walk by the bayou there are giant herons and nutria, too. And lots and lots of turtles, including snapping turtles.

Last night we made a delivery to the downtown homeless. A Simple Thread has given out 10,000 kits as of last night! Woo-hoo! Last night was the first time I saw moms and kids. Poor things. We lit up their faces, though! One little boy was so happy to get a coloring book and crayons. I gave a gym bag that I got from LA Fitness to one young man. You should have seen him smile! :slight_smile:
Monday. Ugh. Need more caffeine…

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I don’t know where they hang out, probably in a tree somewhere as there’s an absolute dearth of caves around here, but we see bats in the evening too. My kid has one of those big pool piston squirt guns and I’ve tried to hit two bats that circle over us there but they’re far too agile.

I remember how the lights on our drilling rig in East Texas would attract insects by the thousands come evening and we’d watch the bats dart in and pick them off with incredible skill. Brownian motion, indeed.

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If you ever decide to be a hoarder, though, you can set up an animal refuge! :smiley:

everyone, is soapy’s username IvoryTowerDenizen? If so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, if not, then meh.

Boring day at work so far. KAKURO TIME!

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I rode a bike this weekend for the first time in probably 10 years. I was real wobbly at first, but then it all came back. I also rode my horse, and I felt I had more control of him than the bike. There are bats at the barn but I’m never there late enough to see them. Just the chipmunks, who are all named Jimmy.

It’s starting to rain and is all black and thundery looking. But I’m at irk which is a very sturdy hospital with a basement so I feel safe.

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Thanks for all the birthday wishes! It’s an awfully nice way to start your day.

:slight_smile:

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This was the Look, June 27, 1967.

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Delurking…

I live in a sub out in the country. It’s 2 east/streets that run for a mile on either side of a small river, with fields of corn, soybeans, wheat, or whatever the farmer wants to plant that year to the north and south of the neighborhood. We gets lots of critters coming down to the river for a morning or evening drink, or to come out of there to find something to nosh on. I’ve seen lots of deer, some owls, raccoons, a few skunks, some woodchucks, and a few snapping turtles in our time here. I’ve heard the woodpeckers doing their level best to contract a case of self-inflicted concussion, too, but don’t see them much. The other evening I rode my bike around the block, and spotted 6 deer in one guy’s front yard. Most looked like yearlings, and had that “I don’t know what you are, but you might be dangerous, so I’m probably going to run soon” look in their eyes.

We used to see bats when they were roosting in my shed, but after they left to go south for the winter, a quick shot of some of that Great Stuff expanding foam sealed up the entrance, and I haven’t seen them any more. Lieu, bats’ll nest roost almost anywhere - they don’t need caves. They make GREAT bug zappers, and you can attract them by putting up a bat house. I just didn’t want them living inside my shed, is all, since they can make a real mess that way.

Oh, and Happy BD, Soapy!

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Oh, I like that! Very much!

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glubglubglub That’s the sound of da bear drownin’ in a sea of paperirk. glubglubglub

On a positive note only four days to irk this week! YAY!!! Ima take Firday off just cause.

cb yes, that is indeed our Soapy. Do try to keep up. :stuck_out_tongue: