Critters, now in our mailbox?
It's been an interesting week for the creatures in and outside the house.
--I made a couple new friends while cleaning the baseboards. Both have eight legs. The first apparently lived at the bottom of one of the sidelights, as I saw it there the whole time I was cleaning (and didn't leave even when I was cleaning there; I kind of had to work around it). The second was under the piece of plastic under dad's plants (which he'd brought up from the basement and put outside last Saturday, then had to bring back in two days later due to frost advisories; they don't appear to be surviving well regardless, but I digress). I thought it was dead at first, so imagine my surprise when I went to wipe near it and it started scuttling toward me! Now, I do my best not to kill spiders, but that doesn't mean I want them near me.
--The other day I saw a bird with a large wingspan flying over the backyards my room faces. I couldn't tell what it was at first; as it flew over the house, I realized it was an egret.
--Then there was the robin playing with its food. Seriously, it took the bird only a minute to pull the worm out of the yard, but it then dragged it around for a couple minutes before finally swallowing it down. The worst part for the worm was that I could tell it was still alive, because I could see it moving; the sun glinted off its body.
--And now today. Apparently some flying critter thinks our mailbox is a birdhouse. I check the mail probably 98% of the time, and the mailbox generally is pretty clear of stuff, which is why I thought it was odd when I opened it and there were little twigs atop the coupon magnet from Rosati's Pizza, the sole piece of mail. Also, there were bird droppings on the bottom of the box. When I pulled out the coupons, I discovered more droppings underneath them--thank goodness we don't order pizza, because I immediately pitched the mail--and more small twigs. One twig atop the coupons was more like a small branch with twigs attached. Our mailbox is old; dad bought it while we were at the other house. It hasn't been closing properly for a little while now. I guess I must not have closed it all the way yesterday, or something, because there doesn't appear to be another way inside. Weird. Also a bit upsetting, since now somebody's going to have to clean out the mailbox. And that somebody's probably going to be me. Grr. I dislike cleaning up after the bird who lives in the house; what makes anyone think I want to clean up after wild birds now?
--I made a couple new friends while cleaning the baseboards. Both have eight legs. The first apparently lived at the bottom of one of the sidelights, as I saw it there the whole time I was cleaning (and didn't leave even when I was cleaning there; I kind of had to work around it). The second was under the piece of plastic under dad's plants (which he'd brought up from the basement and put outside last Saturday, then had to bring back in two days later due to frost advisories; they don't appear to be surviving well regardless, but I digress). I thought it was dead at first, so imagine my surprise when I went to wipe near it and it started scuttling toward me! Now, I do my best not to kill spiders, but that doesn't mean I want them near me.
--The other day I saw a bird with a large wingspan flying over the backyards my room faces. I couldn't tell what it was at first; as it flew over the house, I realized it was an egret.
--Then there was the robin playing with its food. Seriously, it took the bird only a minute to pull the worm out of the yard, but it then dragged it around for a couple minutes before finally swallowing it down. The worst part for the worm was that I could tell it was still alive, because I could see it moving; the sun glinted off its body.
--And now today. Apparently some flying critter thinks our mailbox is a birdhouse. I check the mail probably 98% of the time, and the mailbox generally is pretty clear of stuff, which is why I thought it was odd when I opened it and there were little twigs atop the coupon magnet from Rosati's Pizza, the sole piece of mail. Also, there were bird droppings on the bottom of the box. When I pulled out the coupons, I discovered more droppings underneath them--thank goodness we don't order pizza, because I immediately pitched the mail--and more small twigs. One twig atop the coupons was more like a small branch with twigs attached. Our mailbox is old; dad bought it while we were at the other house. It hasn't been closing properly for a little while now. I guess I must not have closed it all the way yesterday, or something, because there doesn't appear to be another way inside. Weird. Also a bit upsetting, since now somebody's going to have to clean out the mailbox. And that somebody's probably going to be me. Grr. I dislike cleaning up after the bird who lives in the house; what makes anyone think I want to clean up after wild birds now?