Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Flying Raccoons of Northern Canada

We woke this morning to see some vermin in our garbage and more snow atop our cars. It snowed all night, these enormous, taunting flakes of sardonic snow. The giant black flying vermin were successfully pulling large bags out of the plastic garbage bin. The bin does have a lid, but obviously, the lid does not keep these clever animals out. There is garbage scattered around our front yard and road. I can't imagine the ravens found much stuff to eat (since we compost most everything), unless soiled baby diapers are a tastry treat around here.

I call them flying raccoons because they are crafty creatures that are adept at getting into your stuff. Being this far north, we actually don't have raccoons or skunks. In fact, we don't have rabies up here either, which is just another great reason to move to Canada's north, don't you think? My father was bitten by a rabid bat in southern BC, which clearly is another reason NOT to live in the sunny Okanagan amid vineyards and cherry orchards. I think the snow is making me not only blind but possibly also insane.

5 comments:

Amy said...

There are too many people living in the Okanagan now anyway :) We need to spread ourselves around, ha ha. Seriously though, my grandparents used to live there and had a huge garden. It was like visiting Eden for me. Cherries, peaches, apples, plums, apricots, grapes...we ate them right off the trees and vines.

Those crows and ravens are incredibly smart. They were going nuts trying to get at my suet last winter. Finally, they decided to try flying off with the cage. They pulled up on the hanging wire until one end popped out and the cage fell to the ground, then swooped down and had their way with it. My suet was never safe after that.

Gardenista said...

I can just imagine the ravens doing that to a suet feeder. Ha!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

We used to have a problem with "flying black raccoons," but since West Nile Virus arrived in Illinois, I haven't seen any. Not that they are lovely birds or that I miss having my garbage strewn across the street, but it does make me sad that they are all gone from here.

Cicero Sings said...

Those rascally black devils! I had the same trouble as Amy last year ... they made off with my one suet cage and almost destroyed the other one! This year they didn't come around for some reason, until the last couple of weeks. I wonder if the suet feeder will be in tact when we return home?

Macs are wonderful. I was the first to branch into the Mac world with my iMac desk model ... two years ago now. D (being a doubter ... he has to do copious research before branching out into anything new) figured it wouldn't work for him but has since changed his tune ... and has gone for the Mac Book Pro with the Parallel Windows ... Windows being needed for one aspect of his summer job. Ha, ha about the landscaping program!!

Subarus are GREAT cars. The Subaru was my pick too ... then D did the research and now ... there's just no other car worth having!! Ha, ha.

I knew D a good 15 years before he could come around to getting married for Pete sake! ... I was beginning to doubt it would ever happen ... but it did and he is happy and I am happy!

Anonymous said...

Hi, thank you for your comment on my blog. Yes you and I have very different climates. I like to watch your garden when it comes alive in spring. I am sure spring , summer and autumn is a fatastic time for a gardener in your area. And winter is good for a rest. We have more or less our rest in the summer, when it is just to hot to go out and work in the garden.