Zed and I were on the way home from a trip to the hardware store when I got a call from Keziah. My first thought being that she wanted us to pick up something else and we were already most of the way home was wrong. What she wanted was for us to go get a pair of hip waders for me like the ones she got earlier in the day. It seems that since she couldn't use the pole saw they just purchased without the chainsaw oil that Zed and I had just purchased she decided to try the other purchase for today, the hip waders. There is a wet area on the property that looks like it could have been a little pond at some point that someone created along the brook. It isn't that large, or that deep, but Keziah was stuck. She was very slowly sinking into the muck. When she called the water was only about half way up her calf and she hadn't sunk much more when we arrived home a few minutes after the call.
Gideon had already tried to bring her a shovel but brought the small one and couldn't get close enough to get it to her. I put on my winter boots before going out there. After checking out the situation, Zed went looking for a board or long stick and I got as close as I could without going in. There was a very thick bittersweet vine hanging that I tried to use to help her pull herself out but it was at the wrong angle (I almost liked bittersweet). I was able to hand her the tiny shovel though and she got one of her feet out. Zed got the long shovel and I was eventually able to loosen the other foot.
I have been told that tomorrow we will get some hip waders for me so that we can work together at cleaning out the pond/wet area. I have a feeling the stuff she was stuck in was mostly clay. Other than being a bit shaken and maybe some pulled muscles, Keziah seems fine. It was a bit stressful but it had a happy ending. Other things I am happy about:
- So far, no unexpected side effects from the second vaccine. My arm is sore at the injection spot. Am I tired? Yes, but -normal- tired. I don't tend to get enough sleep. Do I have aches and pains? Yes, I am 56 and did some yard work yesterday that most likely is the cause of those. I've been taking and recording my temperature almost every day since last October and that is not elevated. So far, so good.
- Zed and I got the new pole saw working. Some branches were cut.
- While we were out cutting a few branches we spotted an animal. If we had the wildlife camera set up, this is where it would be. There are a few options of what the animal could have been. My guess is that it may have been a fisher. It could have been a woodchuck/gopher, but I don't think so. I tried to get a picture but nothing is good enough for me to be sure what it is. Below is a short video that shows the little guy in the distance by the stone wall. Not much to see. Finding out what lives in the area behind the house is good. Not sure if I want to camp back there anymore though.
Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.
Stay safe.
Hmmm, I'm leaning more towards mink or one of the other smaller mustelids for your critter. It's always hard for me to judge scale from a picture or quick video but, comparing it to the stump and the rock wall, it doesn't seem as large as the fisher that regularly passes through similar landscape in our yard. Fishers also tend to lope, versus the slinkier movement your guy/gal is exhibiting. Just my amateur enthusiast guess, though, I may be wrong!
ReplyDeleteYour amatuer enthusiast guess is more experienced than my amateur wanna-be guess! :) In searching up mink, I think it was larger than what I think a one to three and half pound animal would look like. It was bigger than a squirrel and smaller than a fox. Unless I see it again, I will never know what it was. I'm okay with that, but I'll keep looking for animals to try to identify. :)
ReplyDelete