Some Assembly Required » Animals

Mouse in the House

Ian — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 04:31:10 +0000

I have another animal story. This afternoon, I looked over and saw a small grey shape moving across the floor. It was a mouse. It quickly disappeared and I couldn’t find it after searching.

Tonight, watching a movie in the dark, I saw a dark shape. I turned on the light and saw the mouse sitting out in the open. I dropped an upside-down bucket on it while I figured out what to do. I scooped it in the bucket and dropped it outside uninjured but a little scared.

Wildlife 2

Ian — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 06:49:00 +0000

The second wildlife encounter was with an animal in the chimney. As I was getting ready for work, I heard a banging in my chimney like an animal had gotten trapped. I opened the damper but it hung on and didn’t fall down. Figuring I would deal with it later, dead or alive, I closed the damper and went to work.

That evening, I prepared to catch it by putting a bucket underneath for the expected rodent. Instead, what dropped down was a bird. The starling then flew around my apartment sending ash everywhere. It finally flew out after I turned on the outside light.

Wildlife 1

Ian — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 06:42:00 +0000

A while ago, I had my first recent wildlife encounter. On one of the coldest days of the year, I looked outside and saw a brown furry lump on the edge of the bluff. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a real big rodent. I first thought it was a beaver but it had a straight round tail.

After some research, I discovered it was a nutria. A South American rodent, it was imported to Oregon and is taking over, crowding out the native muskrats and beavers. Evidently, it doesn’t like cold weather and this one looked miserable in the cold.