All the Critters

When I'm working in the flower garden, I'm never alone. There are several "friends" that jump out of nowhere and spook me, and I've also got our "supervisor" Ruby.

We adopted Ruby eight years ago as a puppy from an organization that rescues dogs that are in "kill shelters." Ruby had her own oddities from the very beginning, and we fell madly in love. She was the pup who ran away from us and tried to hide in the corner. She has the funniest habits, which we've grown to adore. She's such a good girl but is scared of her own shadow. She loves to snoop while I'm working and watch for customers so she can show off her loud bark. She loves to sit and watch wherever I happen to be, even for sunsets on the porch.

My favorite garden companions were our ducks because they didn't run back to the house after a few minutes. I use past tense here because this month we ended an era--our decade of owning ducks. We've had just two the past four years, and suddenly one day my favorite duck, a little female Rouen, was struggling to walk. Within 24 hours she was gone. I cried. The ducks quacked me up and made me laugh every day. I loved how they would greet me when I'd come home, and seeing them waddle around on dark, winter days made me really happy. Sadly, my kids, who were their primary caretakers, were outgrowing the ducks and would often be elsewhere when the ducks needed water and food. We had already been contemplating giving the ducks away to another duck-loving family when this happened. We had already made the difficult decision to re-home the remaining duck if/when we lost one because it's sad to see a lonely duck stare and quack at its reflection in our vehicles. The remaining duck went to live out its years at a nearby home with lots of other happy ducks. I still miss them every single day, but I can't take care of them by myself, especially in the icy months.

Next up is the most aggravating animal on our property, aka Jack the rabbit. Jack is the shortened, friendly-family version for his full name. Jack has earned this name after destroying over 1,000 sunflower plants this summer. I'm either an idiot, a complete softie, or just plain naive, because I refuse to do anything that might harm Jack. My son actually has a pet bunny, and they are such sweet animals that I don't want to do anything that might harm Jack. We learned last year that you can't even use a live trap to catch wild rabbits, or they hurt themselves badly within a few minutes while trying to escape the cage. I've heard every possible solution--but they are all somewhat mean. So I've chosen, like an idiot, to live in peace with Jack. He stands at my feet while I work, munching away. He's actually not eating the sunflowers but using the thick stalks to cut his teeth. If rabbits don't do this, their teeth curl around and become ingrown, causing them lots of pain and eventual death. I often give the rabbit cilantro, Boston lettuce, and other things to eat. I like choosing to live in harmony with Jack the rabbit, even if it does make me shake my head at myself.

Another creature out there is Bleep the toad. Bleep creeps me out. I'll be cutting a flower or pulling a weed, and Bleep jumps out of nowhere and usually causes me to scream. Bleep doesn't actually have a name but represents the curse word that goes flying out of my mouth every time he jumps out in front of me.

Finally, there's Catbird. Catbird had me convinced earlier this spring that there was a stray cat in our woods. I'm not entirely convinced that there isn't a stray cat making its way from one neighbor's barn to the next barn every evening around 7 pm, but now that I've actually seen the gray catbird I know that I'm not crazy. Catbird sounds exactly like a cat, and he "meows" for hours straight every morning and every night. Catbird is the reason I've taken to listening to podcasts while I'm working outside.

And there you have it! That's not even all of them--I hear many critters while I work, including several roosters, many neighbors' dogs, a donkey (the new kid on the block), owls, and cows. I love the sounds and chalk them up to one more pro for living in a rural area!

I leave you with two more pictures. The first is of Benjamin (the good) bunny. This is the reason I sacrificed most of my sunflowers this season. Just look at those eyes. It makes it hard to do anything to his relative. ;) The second picture is one time the ducks made me laugh. I pulled in late one night to see this...one duck is real, and one is fake and part of a long-running practical joke. Can you tell which one is real?