City Critters

City Critters

            It’s Summer in Duluth. The season we all wait for, yearn for, go through the hard Winters for. Time to run, bicycle, swim, play tennis, go fishing, canoeing, camping, gardening, fire up the roller blades, have dinner on the patio, char your burgers on the Weber. Art Fairs, fireworks, picnics, garden tours. Paint your house, get up on one ski at the lake, snooze in your hammock. Aaaahhhh.

            I know it’s Summer because, yesterday, the neighborhood bear walked down the side yard of our house, scurried across the street and sat in the yard over there, enjoying the lake breeze for awhile, then continued down the street to the creek, to catch him some lunch. I didn’t see him return, but I know he-or she- lives up behind us in a largish patch of woods. He’s never been a bother, keeps to himself. I refer to him as “he” because he seems to be of the same type as the old bachelor Norwegian farmers that kept to themselves, going about their business without a lot of hoop-de-do. This bear doesn’t even examine our garbage container.

            When we lived in another part of Duluth, long ago, we DID have trouble with the bears getting into the trash and garbage. So, Tom purchased several stretchy cords and bungeed the lids on tight, handle to handle. Later on that night, there was a huge noisy ruckus and we rushed to the windows to watch as a large black bear, obviously in a snit, kicked one of the cans all the way down our driveway and left it in the street, with many bite marks on the handles and dents in the can. But the garbage was still inside. Way to go, Tom!

            Our present neighborhood bear shares his stomping grounds with a large group of deer, back there, behind our house. Every day, any time of the day, the herd is on the move, down the side yard, pausing to graze on the grass in our front yard and devouring whatever flowers I have dared to put out in their exclusive four-star restaurant. Then they mosey around the neighborhood, stopping traffic and checking out the new produce in the other neighborhood flower gardens.

            I like to have red flowers along the front of our house, because the trim on the house is red and I have a “thing” about color matching. The “variety “ packs of petunias always make my eyeballs hurt. Matchy/matchy is my mantra. Socks and shirt-match. Purse and shoes-match. Red flowers and red trim-matchy/matchy. See how that works? So, a few weeks ago, with a young helper doing the things I can no longer do-like digging, planting, carrying and weeding (I’m down to sitting and giving orders) we beautified the front of our house. We planted red petunias, red geraniums and red salvia-all of which, yes, I am aware that the deer could decide to gobble up. But, thinking we were being smart, we surrounded the red flowers with white Cleome and yellow marigolds, both of which I have read that deer hate the smell of and won’t touch. It looked so pretty and I was feeling good that we were making headway in the gardening department.

            Next morning? All gone. Every dang petunia and geranium. Then I realized that the cleome and marigolds were gone, also. Outrage! The deer ate them! I couldn’t believe it! I’m convinced they just choked them down to spite me. Probably went back in the woods and threw them up.

            So, what to do? If they’ll eat marigolds, they’ll eat anything. Back to the books. The guide book authors said they don’t like pokey things that stick them in the nose while they are trying to eat. Sooo, what do they mean? Thistles? They’re not red. I know! I have a plan! Soon, mysterious packages began to arrive. I waited until I had everything gathered to put my plan into motion. Then, one quiet afternoon, with some really good help, I resurrected my garden. Next morning, TA-DAAAA, the great unveiling-ALL RED, ALL ARTIFICIAL! The deer haven’t eaten my flowers since. And-I don’t have to water. Even better.

            But I do have a mystery I’d like your opinion on. Every lily bulb, every dahlia tuber that I plant, something comes along, digs it up, does not eat it, but lays it carefully on top of the dirt. I read one time that skunks will do that, but last year, we installed “rabbit fencing” along the chain link and deer fencing, so I’m pretty sure the rabbits and skunks are not doing this. The only creatures able to get into our back yard are the squirrels and the crows, who build nests up in the back yard pines, every year. I know the chatter we hear from them is “crow talk” and since they are believed to be very smart, maybe they are discussing the really dumb things they see us humans doing. “Hey Morty! Have you seen what they’re doing today? Silly things are down there burying their onions (lily bulbs) and potatoes (dahlia tubers) like Winter is coming! Maybe we should help them out by digging their vegetables up, before they rot.”

            Nah I don’t think that’s it.  My money is on the curiosity of the squirrels. Little devils just have to know everything that’s going on in “their” back yard. If they were starving and my dahlia tubers were the only things left for them to eat, I could live with that. But they don’t eat them, just dig them up and lay them out next to the hole. I give up. Beats me. What do you think?