Lions & Tigers & Bears & Snakes!

Mark and I have been in Vermont for about two months now. One would think we would be used to or at least prepared for all types of critters. Well… although there may not be any lions and tigers (at least I don't think so) there are other things of which we should be aware. I've had multiple close encounters with bugs, but I won't bore you with that. One night Mark is getting ready to go out on the deck to smoke. This is one of the few nights he hasn't made a fire (did I mention he's a pyro). He looks down as he's opening the sliding glass door and sees eyes. He flips on the switch and low and behold there is an animal that resembles a cat on steroids. The thing hissed at him.

He was of course startled and went for a large stick to chase it away. The thing disappeared. I told him that's what he gets for smoking! Come to find out it's a fisher cat. Vermont imported these things to take care of the overgrowing porcupine population a few years ago. Apparently they are natural predators of porcupines (who knew!) and now these fisher cats are overpopulated. Will we ever learn? I pray that I never see one of those up close.

So then Mark is out building the fence for the bison (that we moved up to Vermont to raise) when a horn beeps. A state trooper (another one) had pulled into our driveway. The trooper was going house to house in our area to alert residents that there had been a black bear citing. The trooper asked Mark to call in if we saw the bear, but if it was on our property we had the right to shoot it! Why would we want to shoot a bear? Apparently shoot bear is common in Vermont… The trooper said that their preference is to trap the bear and relocate it, but some people want to shoot them. Poor bear. Mark is down at the corner store one morning, which also happens to be a gathering spot for old-timers (men) who gossip about the goings on in the area. Mark tries to be there a couple of times a week. They were talking about when a young man had shot a bear and put it in the bed of his truck to go around and show all his friends. Well, two weeks later when this young man was done showing off, he went to take the bear out of his bed and it came apart. The bear had decomposed so much in the two weeks he was showing off that he couldn't use any of it (for food, or for it's fur). Yuck! We just received word that the bear sited in our area had been trapped and relocated. Go Bear!

A week or so ago, Mark was having a happy time on his riding tractor, mowing the vast lawn that we have. The grass, weeds and stuff had grown pretty tall (at least 3 to 4 feet). All the sudden something slides across his lap under his shirt and out through his shirt sleeve. It was a snake! Now as you can imagine, he jumped off the tractor and ran. I know he screamed too. He smoked several cigarettes after that encounter. I guess I can't blame him there. It took him awhile (several days) to go get his mower… So maybe there are no lions and tigers, but there are definitely bears and snakes. I swear, Mark has all the fun.