Critter Updates

Other than the spider in the previous post there has been lots of other critter activity around here this past week.

We've been adopted by a stray dog:

It (the brown one) is a 'weinie dog' or something. It has a hurt front leg, but I swear, why me? Why us? (This is the Chinese Year of the Dog, though.) Jewel, the white and black one, seems to like the company. It acts like it's found it home, but I'll have to look around for "lost dog" signs to try to find its real home.



Jewel has found a turkey nest. First she brought us a dead chick, and then she brought a live one that I've rescued. I think it thinks I'm its mother now because I've fed it worms and grubs and taken care of its slight injuries. Every time it sees me it starts chirping so cute.

I've named it Chirp-chirp. This is probably not going to end well because if I release it Jewel will probably catch it again, and if I keep it too long it will probably become too tame. I've instructed the kids not to pick up the bird and play with it. Thoughts of the bird flu have not escaped me even though it is very unlikely to be an issue. Btw, in shamanism turkeys generally represent "give-away" or generosity and blessings.


I haven't seen Clyde the frog in a long time. I suppose he moved on to a more suitable female, but he was appreciated while he was here. I've heard frogs croaking in the distance and wondered if one of them was Clyde.


David ran over a black snake the other day. He thought it was just a stick in the road. He brought it to the house so the kids and I could see it. I don't know if it died. He put it out in the woods, but when we looked later it was gone. It could have been the one I saw last Sunday, but it looked smaller.


Not a critter but exciting for me anyway:

The first ever bloom on my lemon tree. And man, does it smell wonderful! When my dad first gave it to me a few years ago it was just a little stick in a pot of dirt. But now it is over 6 feet tall and mature enough to bloom. We will probably have lemons later this summer (I hope so!) because there are bunches of buds getting ready to open. My dad has had some fruit-bearing lemon trees for several years now.


UPDATE(1:00 am Mon.): I couldn't sleep for thinking that I've misidentified 'Chirp-chirp' as a turkey when he/she is probably just a chicken. There are lots of wild turkeys around here, as well as grouse which Jewel has killed before. I assumed that this was a turkey because of that and because its feathers have the exact same coloring and patterning as turkey feathers. But my father-in-law saw it and said he thought it was a chicken because it looks like some that our neighbor has. Uh-oh, I see a neighbor feud on the horizon if our dog has been killing/stealing his chickens...

David found that snake dead down by the driveway. Jewel probably killed it too.

I found two more black widows today and put them in the same jar. I'm watching to see if they attack each other or fight over food. My god, that's cruel, isn't it?! But as far as I know spider-fighting isn't illegal like cock-fighting is. Besides, I'm not taking or making any bets about it.