Three of these creatures are not strictly speaking “pets” but they have become so familiar to us they seem to be as much at home as our dog.
A few Field Mice, make their winter home in the walls of our house, or in our cars (this year they made their way into the ventilation systems costing costing us a tidy sum for our mechanic to extract the nests they left behind). This one I found in our closed garage today feeding inside the bird seed container, which I stupidly left ajar. I captured it and tossed it into some bushes but it somehow grabbed the lower limb of a nearby tree instead where it fearfully clung to this unaccustomed perch before it fell safely to earth.
The squirrel is seen here denuding our magnolia of buds that otherwise would have been lovely pink and white blossoms. F#!@ing tree rats!
The chipmunk comes out from its nest under our front porch and vacuums up what birdseed falls to the flagstones below robbing our birds of a meal. It brazenly perches on the head of this concrete swan three feet from where I have my evening cocktails, paying no attention to the wild protestations of our dog who can’t get anywhere near him from inside the house.
And finally our only true pet, Reggie, with a look on his face that is pretty much what he looks like when he sees the chipmunk (or squirrel or turkey or white-tailed deer or possum et cetera, et cetera).
