A Shrewd Awakening

This morning I awoke to the sound of my earth home cat Ozzy making a funny sound. It sounded like a muffled whimper – like the meows he makes when he tries to stalk birds living outside from inside the house. He knows its impossible for him to walk through glass, yet he constantly tries to outweigh the odds by batting his paws against the windows.

On this morning, however, I hadn’t slept well, so his unusual whining wasn’t convincing enough for me to turn my head, and I continued to close my eyes. Ozzy let out a second set of odd meows and I had had enough. I turned over and said, “Ozzy, can’t you wait for food?” when I noticed something brown and furry stuffed in his mouth. 

“WHAT IS THAT OZZY?!” I shouted.

Ozzy immidiately dropped whatever it was shoved in his mouth on to the floor and that’s when I saw it.  A little shrew frivolously ran in circles between the clothes on the floor and Ozzy’s feet. “Ozzy – get it!” I said from the bed. The cat snatched it up and held it proudly once again between it’s teeth. Ozzy caught something?! I couldn’t believe it!

Our earth home cat Ozzy woke me up this morning holding a shrew similar to this one in its mouth.

I would think such a sight would not be unusual for most cat owners, but it was a shocker for me. Ever since Ozzy was first given to my husband four years ago, he has lived a life of La-Z-Boy chairs and catfood. Once he killed a grasshopper in the grass, but it might have been because he sat it accidentally. If you think I’m kidding, I’ve included a picture of his life as a plump cat living with with my husband in his bachelor pad years ago before we were married.

THEN: A picture of our earth home cat, Ozzy, who once lived a life of La-Z-Boy luxury in my then-fiance's bachelor pad before we were married.

Having a cat in the earth home is a good thing. We had a feeling there might be critters running around inside at some point, but weren’t sure if Ozzy would up to the challenge of finding them. But clearly, nature and instinct has a way of overcoming nurture!

Back to the shrew running around on the floor – I picked up a shirt off the floor and threw it on the panic-stricken critter. “Wow Ozzy! Good job!” I told him.  It was a huge accomplishment for him and a big surprise for me!

I want to make it clear I, in no way, praise a cat who picks off song birds for fun or harrasses wildlife, but a cat who catches an unwanted intruder without killing it should be praised and rewarded. Ozzy was given heaps of food this morning along with a treat.

AFTER: A new, slim Ozzy watches over his proud catch that I put in a cooler - the only thing I could find at the time that the shrew wouldn't eat its way through.

Ozzy tried so hard to get the shrew back, but I couldn't let him have it again.

Yes, every day is a surprise here in the earth home. Now, what to do with this shrew?

And the answer is…

There were eight birds in this picture. Congratulations to "Old Folks" for picking the winning number!

Guessing Game: How many birds do you see?

WOW! Look at all those birds at the feeders! I just had to take a picture for my feeder findings page. I found my camera, but the batter was dead. Frustrated, I had to use my husband’s pocket camera, which isn’t the best for capturing motion. I noticed an unusually high number of siskins and redpolls at one feeder so I tried my best to get as close as I could without causing them to fly away. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get too close  zoom wasn’t enough. ”Oh well,” I thought. ”Maybe I got a few birds on film.”

I went back to the house and looked at the photos. I was a little disappointed I didn’t capture as birds on the feeder as I wanted, but I also realized there were more birds hiding in the trees waiting for the feeder. In fact, it was kind of a fun challange to see how many birds I could find in the picture. Why not make it into a guessing game for fun!

HOW MANY BIRDS CAN YOU FIND IN THIS PICTURE?

When I receive at least five answers, I will reveal the answer. Good luck!

How many birds do you see in this picture? Write your answer as a comment and see if you're right!

Look Who’s Back

It’s been an almost-daily occurance. I sit at my desk to write. I glance out my window and it appears, eating the leftover seeds beneath the bird feeders. I don’t know how long its been there, but it always startles me. One minute I look out the window there’s nothing, the next minute the deer appears. I can see its tracks around our earth home – they mark a well-worn trail. It makes its way along Spearhead Lake, walks up the hill to the bird feeders, crosses our front yard and makes it way back down to the lake.

I wonder if this is the fawn our neighbor called about two weeks ago. Two weekends ago we received a voice message from a neighbor who had been snowshoeing the trails around our home. He said he saw an injured fawn near our earth home so he called a local conservation officer. I looked around for signs of an injured deer – blood, fur, tracks, anything, but found nothing. Judging by the among of deer tracks near our place, we knew there had been deer in the area, but it’s hard to tell the tracks of an injured deer among hundreds of other deer tracks.

This young deer visits the earth home almost on a daily basis. I'm curious to know its story.

The more I watch this young deer visit my feeders, the more I wonder if this is the deer our neighbor spoke of. It walks at a very slow pace and it’s always alone. The more I watch it, the more I convince myself it has a slight limp to its step. Could it be my mind is playing tricks on me? My guess is it is the deer my neighbor saw. Maybe it was inujred and now it’s healing. Who knows. Whatever it may be, I know it’s hungry. It was -2 degrees this morning and snowing – winter continues to exist.

A new visitor

Sitting at my desk in our guest bedroom, I saw this young deer look for food by the feeders. I've seen this deer three times now in the past two weeks and it never seems bothered by my presence glued to the window. I noticed it has really thick fur and is more "scruffy" than any deer I've ever seen. Then again, I've never been able to see a wild deer so frequently and close up!