hoprigmom

My son took in a rescue chihauhua and he loves to be out on the farm and off a leash. When he goes outside to do his duties, I send my black lab Bo out with him. Poor little Marley might look to be a tasty lunch for some big varmit such as a coyote. For awhile we had a darn bald eagle flying over from one hog farm down to another. I always would take a walking stick and try to stay close to the Marley. I don't know if I could have stopped a bald eagle from swooping down to snatch Marley. Bo got sprayed by a skunk one Saturday afternoon in the fall. Thank heavens it was still warm and I had a bottle of Skunk Off. I shampooed him and when I took him with me to town later, he didn't smell. Skunk Off is a wonderful product. I buy it at the vet clinic. We don't have any bears or bad snakes.

ube quilting

Oh,sewingsew! Sounds like you are describing where I live. They do startle you when looking up from weeding.

I love NH. Do they still have the Keene Pumpkin Festival? I have climbed Mt. Monadnock (sp), many years ago. Wonderful hiking.

My back yard: This bear is beautiful, Young and when he walked his fur moved and shined so pretty. It made quick work of the bird feeder. Personally I am more afraid of snakes. You take care up there in the foot hills.
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peace

Chester the bunny

We lived on a farm up until a few years ago, and although we saw the usual deer, coyotes, bear and moose, the most beautiful thing I ever had a chance to see from my window was a bobcat. You don't get a chance to see them everyday they are very shy. He was fat and fluffy and moseying through the yard on his way to the river.

Jane Quilter

we have a bear around here. My son in law (lives next door with 13 acres) put the baby cam up and filmed him raiding the trash can and stealing the pizza box. So he moved the trash indoors to the basement until he and my hubby can build a better can. Then, a week later, I look out the back window, and a bear runs out of the woods to chase my donkey around the field, I yell, hubby fires a shot and scares the bear back to the woods (we own 40 acres). Poor donkey won't come out of his safety pen for 2 weeks. The the Appalachian trail closes down near us due to bear activity and opens after they place bear proof trash cans out for $10,000. We live near Mcaffee's Knob in Catawba Blue Ridge Mountians . We have 5 mile of national forest behind our house. If its alive, it lives there. Welcome to the wilderness. Its no wonder I quilt.....

carolynjo

We see plenty of deer (8 or 9) at a time;wild turkeys galore, the usual skunks, groundhogs, squirrels who eat our birdseed, chipmunks, and other small critters like rabbits and your usual friendly blacksnake. Nothing large but in a neighboring community a black bear. They are hungry for everything has dried up--no significant rain this summer.

SewingSew

Ube, Your photos are always beautiful. I love living in the woods and I love nature. But I do understand the danger of living amongst wild animals and I take that fear seriously. Tothill, I found your posts fascinating. You get to see animals who are not common to many of us.

Ube, They stopped having the Keene Pumpkin Fest a couple of years ago. It was all over the news, including on NPR. A bunch of mostly college students put the word out online inviting everyone to come party at the Pumpkin Fest. It turned into a riot. Look it up online. It is a shame when something like this event is taken from the community. It was a wonderful event, and now it's ruined. If you've ever seen the town at the beginning of the movie Jumanji, that is Keene. The majority of the movie was filmed there.

madamekelly

The elk incident was in a small mountain town, Northport, WA and the cougar was where I live now in the foothills of the cascade mountain range. Elk usually avoid people, I have no idea what brought it to my door, but we had a herd of mule deer that walked right past my little house on thier way to the river at dusk. We just stayed in the house or gone when they were due.

Quilter 53

We've lived in this house for 20 of the last 27 years (7 years was job related transfers). Over the years we've seen bull moose, cow moose with calves, brown bear, black bear, fox, ermine, squirrels, wild rabbits, grouse, ptarmigan, birds of all kinds including bald eagles and a travel weary snipe that rested in my garden for 2 days. One year we had a young randy moose strutting his stuff and attack my lilac bush and completely destroy a mountain ash tree. But the moose we didn't see come through the yard this past Thurs night left it's identifying mark. My hanging fuchsia basket was on the ground, the cabbage and cauliflower and Swiss chard were totally gone, the wax and green beans were trampled as were the carrots. But the most disappointing thing were the peas! Our 5 foot tall plants were either pulled out by the roots or nibbled down to about a foot high. And just for good measure, the fencing was stretched and bent over to almost touch the ground and the raspberry patch has a giant empty spot. Hubby has been watching and waiting for the peas to fill out so we could have creamed new peas and red potatoes. Don't think we'll even get a handful of peas. Oh well, moose have to eat, too!

janisspencer

here in rural central missouri we have had several visitors including,assorted snakes,possums,bobcats,deer,foxes,coyotes,quail,fl ocks of turkey walking across our yard walking into the woods around and behind our home,lizards,. have not seen any bear yet but know others have not far from us. oops almost forgot the many squirrels that are at our bird feeder,and the bunnies that seem to have tripled this year.

grannie cheechee

Alligator in the back yard years ago. Not sure how it got there. Six ft fence around the yard. Squirrels, opossum, armadillos, and turtles. Before they started building more we use to see herds of deer, and fox.