Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Pop Goes The Weasel
I was sitting at my computer. It was fairly early in the morning. I decided to check the news before I began my day.
I keep my computer near the door that looks out into my back yard as well as the back yards of at least three neighbors. There is seldom much movement back there. I see birds hopping around. There is the occasional feral cat. Once in a while I will see a rabbit.
So as I sat here looking across the yards I saw a cat stealthily crossing a neighbor's yard. It moved from a shed to a propane tank.
As it moved I thought that moving that way made the cat look extremely long. Then I noticed that it had a rat's head!
Around here we see field mice an sometimes other very small rodents. I had mistaken a squirrel for a cat. Silly me.
Then I saw that it had a strange tail. It was nowhere near as fluffy as a squirrel's tail should be. Maybe it was a rat. But no, the tail was definitely not the skinny whip that rat's have.
I sat here in amazement. What on earth had I seen?
As I sat here contemplating and gathering my thoughts it came back. The animal retraced its steps. This time I paid more attention and saw it more clearly. It was a weasel!
Now I had never seen a weasel before at least not in real life in "the wild".
To make sure I saw what I thought I saw I did a search. There were a couple of other rodents that looked similar but they are found in other continents. It was definitely a weasel.
When I was telling my youngest grandson about seeing a real weasel my son was sitting next to him. My son said my grandson's eyes opened wide with interest. Does this mean I am a cool grandma?
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Yes you certainly get good points for seeing a weasel and being the best grandma. Too bad you didn't get a photo, but I guess you were too transfixed :)
ReplyDeleteI wish I could have a picture of it. I simply did not think about it until later.
DeleteOh no!
ReplyDeleteYou made my imagination running wild...
How does a cool grandma looks like, how does she behave...
Let's rock and roll?
Rock and roll it is. I prefer 50's and 60's rock and roll.
DeleteDear Blogoratti, I love you, but a photo ruins the myth. a cool grandma sees with wonder and tells with wonder. That's how cool works.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of it that way but you are so right. But I did send him a picture of a buffalo.
DeleteI opened the door at my mother's house one day and a creature stood looking at me. Weasel I think. I was lucky it didn't come indoors.
ReplyDeleteThat would make me take notice. I was enraptured when I watched it. If it had come up to introduce itself I would not have been happy.
DeleteI have never seen a weasel either! Just recently, my husband and I saw a beaver, it was dead by the side of the road hit by a car. I have seen evidence of a beaver (trees knawed down by a lake or river) but never saw a live one. Still haven't! LOL!
ReplyDeleteMany years ago a friend and I were canoeing and looked over to see that a beaver was racing us.
DeleteIt was exciting.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a weasel. Seeing it definitely makes you a very cool grandma.
ReplyDeleteWe grandmas take our "cool" whenever we get it.
DeleteI am always a bit scared of weasels, Emma. Not that I do not see their beauty, but they have a strange way to move.
ReplyDeleteThey always move like they are sneaking up on something.
DeleteMy new experience was seeing a black snake in the front yard at the VA house last week. In the 12 years we lived there, all I had ever seen were garden frogs and rabbits, and, of course, birds. According to Grenville, this snake variety was not poisonous and when it crawled under some cut tree limbs in the yard, we figured it would be gone in the morning. And, it was...until later that evening I was passing by hedges on the side of the house and saw a snake's head looking out! And, no I did not get a photo.
ReplyDeleteI would guess that since no humans are there on a regular basis the snakes fell safe coming in to feed on the small animals you were used to seeing. Too bad about the photo.
DeleteAfter reading this interesting story i saw the image of weasel on google and realized that i have never seen this rodent before . Though it looks like little bit mongoose that i saw back in my native town.
ReplyDeleteYou wrote so nicely with feel of thrill and suspense Emma!
Thank you for the nice compliment. I was excited about seeing it.
Delete