I’ve been here for a year now and I’m still having “firsts”. Actually there were two this week. 

The other day we were in the kitchen minding our own business and “BANG”, a bird flew right into the window. Now I know that happens all the time. In fact, that happened in CA too. The difference here is that this was a rather large hawk that was chasing a smaller bird. The small bird managed to duck and hide on the ground, but the hawk was so focused on the hunt that it hit the window at full speed. Im sure it must have seen stars as it flew off! That was one of those “Oh my gosh, did you see that” moments. I guess it was that little bird’s lucky day!

Not that this on my bucket list or anything, but this past week I also had my first encounter with a trapper. Yes, a real, live, genuine trapper. The real deal! We have an intruder on our property that really needs to be removed. It’s causing some grief to the wildlife out there and we’d really like for it to be gone ASAP. 

Now back to the “trapper”…

When JD told me he was calling in a trapper, my mind went into overdrive. A trapper? What does someone that traps wild animals for a living look like? Within seconds I had a mental image of what I thought a trapper should look like. Tall, long hair, beard, muscular, weathered skin, maybe a raccoon skin hat, carrying all kinds of weapons, and of course…traps! Or…have you ever watched Call of the Wildman on Animal Planet? Okay, maybe not not him, but surely a big, burly mountain man looking guy would be in order. 

I was close. Sort of. He pulled up in his truck and ATV, and plenty of weapons (for his own protection, remember he’s a trapper, not a hunter). and lots, and I do mean lots of information. We learned more in 30 minutes than we ever wanted to know about trapping animals. I really didn’t care about how it all works, I just want this particular animal removed from our property – STAT. 

We headed out into the yard to show him where we thought our uninvited guest might be coming in and also showed him some evidence of what had been left behind. “Yup, there’s some fur here, this is probably where he’s gettin’ in.” He was also able to identify some skeletal remains that we’d found. I know we don’t live in the suburbs anymore and I know this is how nature works, but I’d much prefer it take place on the other side of our fence. In the meantime, anyone know where we can get an ACME anvil??? That always seemed to work for the roadrunner!

Oh, just one more first. I have also stepped on my first (and hopefully the last) anthill this summer. Amazing how fast one can remove one’s shoes when necessary! (Thankfully I had shoes on!)

Oh Texas, you’re full of adventures 🙂