Friday, June 26, 2009

Eewww!

I have another dead critter in my back yard. This one's a squirrel (or what's left of one).

I first noticed kind of a 'ripe' smell two days ago. Initially, I thought it was coming from inside the garage, where I had several small plastic bags of garbage just sitting there waiting to be put outside. I had missed two garbage pickups. (They come on Tuesdays and Fridays.) For some reason or another, the garbage people have recently decided that they're going to come early in the morning.

So anyway, last night - when I came back home from mentoring at the bridge studio (We won!) - I decided I'd take out all the smelly stuff. I really don't like putting garbage out for pickup the night before. Too many bad things can happen ... wind, rain, foraging animals and whatnot, but I figured that's where the smell was coming from and thought I'd take my chances with the overnight bit.

Then, I told myself that I'd check for extraneous smells when I got up this morning. Well, I did, and THIS time there was no mistaking the smell. Only it wasn't coming from the garage. It was outside, close to the garage.

I opened the garage overhead door to see if the garbage had been removed yet. It had. Well, shuckeydurn! Then went to inspect the back yard in the full light of day and finally found the rotting carcass. Eewww!

Have a small box all ready to accept the remains. All I have to do now is line it with newspapers and leaves, place the dead body on top - will probably have to encase it in a couple or three plastic bags first (Ugh! Not looking forward to that!!) - and then fill in the rest of the enclosure with more leaves and stuff.

I might just decide to wait another day or two before doing that. I mean, it's not as tho it'll be going anywhere, right? I'll have to do something, however, before the gendarmes decide to enter my back yard with guns drawn, saying, "All right, lady, where's the body?!?"

3 comments:

Craig Peihopa said...

Nothing like an assault on the senses to awaken you!

steven said...

hello goldenrod! well, the animals around here have been visiting but not dying - well they do die in the pool actually - i've pulled three chipmunks and a rat out of the filter basket so far. one of the chipmunks had a very tired and hungry toad sitting on it. hmmm i wonder what you could say about their respective karma?!!! there really is nothing that comes close to the smell of a dead animal though - be it mouse, cat whatever. lucky you!!! steven

Goldenrod said...

Well, the smell is gone. Carcass is still there, but the smell is completely gone. Very strange!

Don't think I've seen a chipmunk since I came to Texas. Lots of squirrels. Don't think I'd like to find dead ones in a filter basket, tho. Ugh! Dead rats are OK. I don't like rats.

A toad? Usually they don't like pools very much! When I had my kitty there were toads in the back yard, one of which grew to be an enormous size! Every spring she'd try and eat one, forgetting how sick one of its cousins had made her just the year before. She was a mighty huntress!