Spokane. Wildlife abounds. We have marmots at the Falls, moose invade the golf course, and our dogs…drive cars.
by CJ | Jan 9, 2014 | Journal | 8 comments
8 Comments
Submit a Comment Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Honestly, you have to love this town.
Ducks nest on a downtown bank’s ledge, and people hover to get them safely 3 blocks to the river…mom-duck has finally given up and nested at the river, we suppose, like a good mom duck. Novice duck-moms do learn.
Moose invasions are a springtime event: the golf course and one edge of town swimming pool are the usual venues.
The hospital district bear has terrified late hours workers.
Marmots occupy a ledge on the falls—and downslope from both of our old apartments.
Coyotes have been sighted in front of our house. Along with marmots.
Bald eagles and osprey, great blue herons and raccoons have terrorized our koi.
Wolf tracks have appeared at a local school bus stop. Probably it’s the scent of bologna sandwiches in school lunches.
Cougar are not entirely unknown below our old apartment building, down on creekside…
Spokane…Next to Nature…yep. And our dogs are driving…
Last night, I was listening to a new radio that someone gave me – this is an amateur radio transceiver with digital capability. I can connect to a system that in turn connects to a worldwide network all connected by the interwebz. On my local system located in Dayton, OH, I heard a ham talking and he said he was in Spokane. Since I wasn’t sure my radio signal would make it all the way to Dayton, I didn’t try to jump in to the conversation, even though I would have been welcome. I wish I’d gotten his call sign, if I make it out there this summer, I might get a chance to talk to him on a more local basis. Well, the radio has a very steep learning curve, and I don’t want to do something that causes grief to other users.
Nature is so wonderful, isn’t it? We have coyotes here, when I lived on the farm they were in the woods, though I never saw them. Lots of blue herons when I go kayaking on the lakes, and I have NEVER seen a bald eagle or osprey flying (sad). Ducks we have plenty, and unfortunately, their cousins, Canada geese which terrorize the golf courses and leave their “land mines” all over. I’ve never seen a moose or bear in the wild, and cougars only at the zoos. Marmots seem like they’d be fun to watch, but raccoons are more often than not infected with rabies. Even when we were paddling down the Little Spokane, I didn’t take much opportunity to look around – something about being on flowing water in a boat I’m not familiar with, and also trying to help other boaters, might have had something to do with it. But, if we do it again, I’ll be right there again.
On the Little Spokane, word of a moose tends to come up and down the river. My great nightmare would be rounding one of those twisty bends to find my bow aimed right at the belly of a placidly head-under-water grazing moose. The moose thereabouts are likely accustomed to the boats, even hearing their paddles, and they tend to leave the water when boats are arriving, but if the hairless ape can be surprised by a moose, it can go the other way, and a collision would not be a good thing…
More distant nature, Alien Planets Revealed, on Nova: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365149642/
Apparently the driver was making a run for the border. He was heard to say “Yo quiero Taco Bell” when he was stopped.
(I see you found it–it was on KGW News here! 😉 )
Oh, Paul! Ow, ow ow!
“Absolutely irresistable.”. 🙂
We have problems with foxes — and it’s not the network kind!
http://nesn.com/2013/09/fox-runs-around-on-sideline-during-tcu-texas-tech-football-game-video/
My mom’s had them jump the 6 foot fence and get into her back yard to drink out of her bird bath. We have possums too. I’ve seen one in my back yard. We have too much farm land around for coyotes, though, I think.