Bob, I'll have to make sure I get a meal at Frank's if I'm ever able to fulfill my "pipe" dream of taking an Amtrak tour across the continent and find myself in Washington State. But I'll have to wait another three years before I have the freedom to do that...and who knows if Amtrak trains will even still be running cross-country by then?
Bill, I suppose that rain you got today will probably be reaching us here in the East by next Friday, if it follows the typical track. We used to have all kinds of small furry critters showing up around our house when my daughter had an outdoor cat, and would put food in a dish for it. Coons, possums, groundhogs and rabbits, we got 'em all...until one summer a brood of coyotes dug themselves a home in woods beside our house. After that we didn't see any wild critters on our property for a couple of years...
We live in a "big city", but it's spread out a lot. Our house is less than a half mile from a five lane street, with fast food and shopping centers. The back of our property adjoins the entrance to a several hundred acre historical and nature park. We see all kinds of critters in the year, from woodchucks to bears. The deer eat my grapes every Summer. I've got two vines, and I'm lucky if I get a small Tupperware bowl of grapes before they're devoured.
We live in a "big city", but it's spread out a lot. Our house is less than a half mile from a five lane street, with fast food and shopping centers. The back of our property adjoins the entrance to a several hundred acre historical and nature park. We see all kinds of critters in the year, from woodchucks to bears. The deer eat my grapes every Summer. I've got two vines, and I'm lucky if I get a small Tupperware bowl of grapes before they're devoured.
We also have a pair of resourceful raccoons that I'm in a constant battle with to keep them out of our trash. One night I heard noise around the trash can, and looked out to see one raccoon standing on the back of the other one to reach the lid of the can. After that, a concrete block has kept them out. I can only assume they're at the local gym, working out so they can toss the block off, and gain access to our can again.
Here's a photo of our back yard:
View attachment 92410
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