Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

‘Twas Just Before Spring

By

‘Twas just before spring, when all through the yard

Something was stirring, despite the snow being hard

Yup, there’s something moving about in the yard and it’s mostly hiding in the piles of wood.

Woodpile1

Two weeks ago the pups were interested in the pile by the retaining wall.  They stuck themselves so far under the tarp, they scared me.

Tuesday I took the dogs out after I got home and was doing my poop patrol of the yard, when I noticed Delilah had a Mohawk.  (Sadly, I could not get a photo.)  The fur right before her tail was all puffed up.  I looked around to see if I could see anything that might have gotten her hackles up, but found nothing.

Woodpile

Then yesterday morning her fur was up again and both dogs were interested in some uncut wood Hubby had wrapped up in some tarp.  They both climbed up on the snow bank and stuck their noses down.  I swear I saw something brown move under the tarp, so I hurried up on the deck.  Then I thought, it’s better to get your camera and record it.  How many times have you missed an opportunity because you didn’t have the camera?

It reminded me of the time I went home at lunch to let the dogs out.

Delilah was intent on this tree in our yard.  It had been topped and stood about 4 to 4 1/2 feet tall.  There was a small hole in the dead center of the top of the tree and this is where she focused.  Being inquisitive and curious myself, I decided to play the Bear Went Over the Mountain and walked up to it to see what I could see.  I peeped over the top of the tree and it hissed at me.

You read that right,  The. Tree. HISSED. At. Me.

You can imagine that I jumped back startled and I maybe, might have screamed like a little girl.

Then that curiosity thing (you know, the one that killed the cat) got the better of me, so standing a good distance away, I began to throw rocks at the tree.  And I giggled a little thinking how the dogs would chase after whatever it was that came screaming out of that tree.  Until I realized I was probably in the direct trajectory of one very pissed off animal.

Visions of a rabid raccoon tearing my face to shreds while the dogs barked and jumped danced through my head and I decided it was better to wait until Hubby came home and let him deal with it.

I’m almost certain I sent him a text that said, “Dude, the tree hissed at me.”

He text me back, “It’s probably a bird.”

A bird I scoffed, birds don’t hiss.  WTF are you smoking? I’m a grown ass woman, you can’t pull that over on me.

I was on pins and needles waiting for Hubby to get home. Sometimes and I say SOMETIMES, Hubby approaches things a bit differently than I do.  He grabbed a mirror (why didn’t I think of that?)  Meanwhile, I put on my running shoes, just in case.  Standing a good distance away I watched as he approached the tree.  He stuck the mirror over the tree and said, “It’s a bird.”

WHAT?  I couldn’t believe it.  I had to see it for myself.   So Hubby showed me how to angle the mirror just so, and I peered into the mirror to see a wide-open beak hissing up at me.

Well dip me in fruit juice and call me a Popsicle, I had no idea.

That story quickly raced through my mind as I went inside to get my camera, but by the time I got back outside, whatever had interested them had made it’s escape.

As for that tree?  I took it down to the ground in the fall.  Ain’t nothing hissing at me in my yard!!

Welcome to Thursday’s Barks and Bytes blog hop hosted by Heart Like a Dog and 2 Brown Dawgs.  Hop along to see what everyone else has to say!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Comments

comments

Comments

  3. Well a hissing bird is a new one on us too and we would have done exactly the same including screaming like a girl. Seriously glad everything was OK. Have a tremendous Thursday.
    Best wishes Molly

  4. Hi Y’all!

    Oh, my Human has this thing about bird nests. She has one in the Lady Bankshire by the front door that doves built. They return every year and she won’t allow the rose to be trimmed back and avoids using the front door when the doves are nesting. Once she knew a bird was in that tree it would have stayed until it fell over in a storm.

    Y’all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

  5. Oh man! We were hoping for a really fun critter and a good chase. We have trained Mom to behave like you and really investigate for us. Looks like you pups have trained you well too. Maybe next time it will be a more fun find.

  6. LOL we both used Popsicle in our posts today. What are the odds?

    I bet it is chipmunks in the wood. I suppose it could be the snake, but I think it is too cold for snakes! I would love to have a bird or birds in the yard here hiss at me. Some sign of life. 🙂

  7. LOL! If I hear a hiss and don’t see a cat, I assume it’s a snake and run like hell. So does Thumper. Can’t wait to see what animal Sampson and Delilah have found in your yard.

  8. A bird,,,lol! I would of guessed a cat but then I guess it would of came shooting out of there like a bat out of hell and that didn’t happen so a bird it is. Don’t let that thing peck your dogs eyes out. Have a great Thursday.

  11. Lol! I would never have thought a bird would hiss. We have all sorts of critters in our yard though… mice and one really moronic groundhog and lots of birds and rabbits. Unfortunately now that it’s cold the mice decided to take residence in our walls, of course, the cat took care of that pretty quickly. They’ve all packed their bags and moved out. The most bizarre thing that happened recently was when our cat caught a bird… IN THE HOUSE. I have no idea how it got inside the house (we never leave the doors open for extended periods of time because the cat will sneak outside) but the cat (with three legs, no less), jumped up and caught it in mid air. Impressive, but gross.

  14. Wow no kidding! Never know what those dogs will turn up in the yard. Kind of like an exciting nature show, without the pretentious British accented-narration.

  15. SO your are saying that was one HISSED off bird????
    Did you check the snow fur Tell Tail TRACKS to see what is lurkin in the wood piles?

  17. LOL. Well, gee, you just have to spoil all the doggie adventures! I have yet to capture a photo of Rudy’s mohawk. It is very impressive – from the top of his head clear down to the base of his tail 🙂

  18. Really? Birds hiss? I did not know that! Do you know what kind of bird it was? I wonder what was in your wood pile. You are lucky to still have wood left in it. We just used the last of ours today….I think it’s the first winter we ever ran out! Luckily it’s only our backup source of heat, we have propane and just use wood for the warmth and atmosphere.

  20. Hahahaha … you had me smiling through the whole article, thanks! I’ve never met a hissing bird either so I would of reacted exactly like you. Don’t ya hate when the hubby is right and your are wrong! Good thing it doesn’t happen often!

  23. I don’t like the idea of a hissing tree. I was loving having my ‘I don’t need a man, I have a house’ house DIY projects, but thinking I might have to deal with a hissing tree by myself, suddenly I’m a little nervous!!