Night Life

 

Dear Andrew,

          I was outside, on my kitchen patio, when I noticed that my trashcan was gone! It used to sit right here behind my screen door. Inside that trashcan was a big bag of sunflower seeds for my birdfeeders.

          Who would take it? Who would want a can full of sunflower seeds?

          Maybe it was a bear!

          We went looking for the trashcan and found it in the neighbor’s field. That bear must’ve been strong to take it that far! And he ate almost all of the seeds too!

          That night I put a trail camera up on the post to see if he comes back.

          A trail camera is a camera used by hunters to see what kind of critters use the trails at night. The pictures it makes aren’t the best but you can still tell what they are.

          The next morning, when I got up, I went out to the patio and saw my little white bucket of lime was gone. It was laying out in the yard and the lid was still on it. I got the trail camera and downloaded the pictures to my computer.

          The first guy that came around was this skunk! Pew!

          Did you know a boy skunk is called a buck, a girl is called a doe, and the baby skunks are called kits.

          Skunks eat just about anything and beekeepers especially don’t like them. Do you know why?

“Because skunks eat honey?” you say.

No! They eat the bees!

          “Don’t they get stung?” you ask.

          Bee stings don’t bother skunks and neither does the venom of snakes!

          Skunks are most active at night and they won’t hurt people unless threatened, then they’ll spray you with skunk juice! Yuck!

          And did you know that some people can’t smell the odor of skunk?

I know, right! I didn’t know that either!

But one thing that is very important to know about skunks is if you ever see one during the day and he’s acting funny or trying to get you, run in the house! Skunks are the biggest carrier of rabies! That’s a disease and you don’t want to get it.

 Then I see Spitfire. He’s one of our cats and he had spent the night outside. He does that sometimes.

Then this racoon came nosing around looking for leftover cat food. I think the skunk already ate it all.

           Then I see him! I see a bear! 

He was looking for leftover cat food too! Bears are like skunks, they’ll eat just about anything! 

Did you know that boy bears are called boars, girl bears are called sows, and baby bears are called cubs? 

          He looked all around for food and didn’t find any! 

          Look at him! He’s taking my bucket of lime! Silly bear! You can eat lime! It’s for the garden! 

          He either couldn’t get the bucket open or he knew it wasn’t good to eat so he dropped it and came back to the patio. This time he was looking to see if I took the birdfeeders in the house.

          I did.

          Finding no food, he left.

          Then my trail camera took a picture of this guy. He’s not one of our cats but I’ll feed any critter that comes around.

          I’ve been calling him Whiskers and Whiskers is much too late to get a meal here tonight!

          Then the racoon came back. He climbed the pole looking for my birdfeeders too.

          He got the whole way up and didn’t find any birdfeeders. 

          When he came down, he knocked a stand over. I wondered how come I had to pick it up every morning. Now I know!

          After looking around a little bit more, he left. They don’t hang around long if there isn’t anything to eat. 

         Just as the sky was getting light, Spitfire comes back to the patio. He knows when I get up, I’ll let him in the house. 

          Summer is coming and I like to take pictures of bugs, and flowers, and birds, and critters. Then I like to learn things about them. If you like to learn things too, I’ll write again and tell you what I see and share with you the things I learn.

          But there is one thing I want you to know — and never forget — you are in my heart and I love you very much!

           Hugs and kisses,

          Mimi