The wilderness that is our neighborhood

More news on our neighborhood. Aren't you excited?!

I know we don't live in the city, but we are hardly rural, yet we seem to have more wildlife than we should. The biggest worry right now is skunks. We smell them in the area frequently, and see them a lot, too. Just the other day I was walking Quincy and I saw something walking in the grass about 50 feet in front of us. We slowed our pace so I could get a look since it was dark. As we inched forward I saw the white stripes on its back and I froze. The skunk saw us at the sane time and stopped as well. We stood there looking at each other. I was waiting for him to turn his butt on us. I was ready to bolt the other way as soon as I saw any false move from him. Luckily, he turned and walked perpendicular to us. We were spared -- this time. I need to have some stuff on hand here in case I get sprayed. I don't even know what to do. I remember hearing a tomato juice bath was the way to go but that was from The Partridge Family. How can I trust a family that was a fake band?

We used to have foxes, too. I thought they were kind neat to have around, until they cornered a cat across the street. That was quite an interesting set of sounds I heard that day. The cat was okay. I think someone came out of the house and scared the foxes. I couldn't since I was home with my son who was two at the time. Plus, they might have had rabies. I remember seeing an animal control vehicle not long after that episode. The foxes were never seen again. If they were around, we probably wouldn't have skunks. I'd rather have the foxes.

One funny thing I noticed the other day walking Quincy. You know how people love to write their names in wet cement? Well, there are two areas in our subdivision with relatively new cement on the sidewalks. Instead of writing there are animal tracks. I'm almost positive they are racoon prints. You know how racoons like to get into trouble. I picture them going out and looking for this stuff, just to leave their prints behind. Maybe they think they are the neighborhood celebrities or something.

I also think that we have more squirrels per square yard than are in the local forest preserves. They are everywhere! I think they are plotting a takeover.

We need to get the foxes back to thin the squirrel herd.