One night when my parents were here, I was sitting in the living room, looked up and caught sight of a raccoon standing on 2 legs with his paws against the sliding glass doors, looking intently at me as if to say "where is my dinner and why don't you let me in?". I had a totally literary reaction- I wrung my hands and my mouth flapped open over and over- I was speechless. I rarely have those kind of moments they describe in books, but this was one. His masked face in the dark was SO STARTLING, I could not speak. When we all went up to the glass, he did not budge which freaked me out even more. This is NOT a picture of him, I got this off the web- same with the opossum. After the raccoon visit, I had nightmares for the next 3 nights that robbers or vagrants broke into our house.
Then yesterday we caught sight (again) of a opossum. But this time she was carrying babies on her back and she disappeared under our deck. Awesome. Now we have more than one vermin problem. We really want to plant a garden and fruit trees, so I think these animals will have to be dealt with. It's a weird feeling of being invaded, I guess one of the many new feelings I have as a new homeowner.Last night for Cinco de Mayo I made homemade tamales and some enchiladas verde that were different from any we had tried before. I also topped off the evening with homemade churros. I have linked all the recipes with their online sites, they were all good (well, I would like to tinker with the churros, but who really needs to keep trying fried foods? No me). I do like having some international grocery stores close by, we had Tamarind Jarritos with dinner too . . .
We love international holidays like Chinese New Year and Cinco de Mayo so we have an excuse to eat yummy food! lol
7 comments:
The last place we lived (up on 65th) had an opossum living somewhere nearby and I remember looking at the backyard from an upstairs window and totally freaking out one night when I saw it. It was the biggest opossum I'd ever seen - I swear it was bigger than a cat. It DOES feel like an invasion! Yuck. I hope you get them taken care of and that it does not cost you a fortune to do so. :)
Nathan said, "Tamales AND enchiladas ? . . ."
I think his mouth was beginning to water at the thought. He misses you.
OK, what is a tamarind jarrito?
When we had a cat, we left the garage door open just a smidge so he could get in and eat his cat food during the winter. That worked until we found an oppossum in the garage eating the food!
In Alabama, a squirrel got stuck inside the garage and freaked me out--I just knew it was a theif, and he'd kill me when I went to go check it out...
Somebody told us that "Critter Ridder" would work to keep wild-life out of our backyard. When I got to Lowe's to buy it, I ended up buying a similar product (ok, ok, it was cheaper and I figured that it was the same stuff). One of the critters that it says it keeps out is cats, but since DJ spread it around the boarders of our yard we have gone from one cat to three. Needless to say, I am not real optimistic about it's effectiveness on raccoons, opossums, squirrels, and the other filchers that raid our garden at night.
W.O.W. really you have some interesting neighbors!
Sorry, that post by Cindy, is me--Gina! i posted on your birthday entry too! I didn't realize I was under her account!
You know I almost hate to say it - but a dog would keep the vermin at bay. Perhaps invite Ernie back?
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