Musings on Critters and the City

So I recently moved out of my apartment (a duplex, actually) and was thinking while packing about the various critters I have known in that apartment over the last two years. It was an older building and not in the best condition ever, so we had lots of…visitors.

First, there Bob the Friendly Front-door Spider. Those who know me know I have this penchant for naming the various critters I meet, especially when I have more extensive contact with them. My philosophy is that if I name them then we can be friends and I don’t have to be skittish about their being around. Therefore, as I’m not particularly fond of spiders and would prefer they keep their distance from me, I noticed and named Bob on the day we moved in. He had constructed an intricate home right by the front door, which meant we greeted each other as I came and went. Granted, it could be argued that I did most–or all–of the greeting, but I maintain Bob waived back whenever I said hello. Bob died about a year after we moved in. I think he lived a happy life as the guard of our front door.

Then there’s Max. Max, we eventually learned, was a squirrel. Well, is a squirrel–he still lives at 12 Oaks Manor (this is the name my roommate and I gave our humble abode, after the slightly sketchy 12 Oaks Motel up the street). Max, if nothing else, was LOUD. Energetic and loud. Think World War III taking place in your attic, especially after he had mated (with Maxine, of course) and had a little brood of babies running around. Most days I fought with Max, wishing he would quit disturbing my slumber.

Penelopes 1 thru 9 were my least favorite visitors. The first Penelope was a mouse–a baby, as it turned out–who first showed her face in our kitchen. She met a swift end due to her love of peanut butter. Unfortunately, though, Penelope 1 was just the beginning of the War Against the Mice that quickly ensued. 7 babies and 1 adult mouse later, we finally found and patched up a hole in the building’s foundation and rid our home of the large family that had taken up residence there. But not before a multitude of occasionally effective traps and eventually poison. I will admit, even naming the Penelopes did not enable me to fully befriend them and I temporarily moved out in the height of said war.

Spring brought my favorite creature-friends. Jack the Rabbit showed up early in the spring, followed by Eudora and Whelty, a Bluejay couple on the verge of hatching little ones. Jack could be seen investigating the surrounding trees and bushes, always keeping a safe distance and disappearing into the shadows. Eudora and Whelty, however, were much more friendly and took a liking to the tree just outside the kitchen window. I wonder how their hatchlings are faring…

I also wonder if my next home will boast the same number of creature-friends. Probably not–I do live in the city. But it’s kind of nice, amid our concrete surroundings and efforts to ward off any creaturely invasions of our sterile homes, to be reminded that, really, we are the visitors in their worlds and once upon a time we were all content to dwell together.