| Apr. 22nd, 2005 @ 12:35 pm (no subject) |
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Last night, Smith, the dog in my picture on LJ, found a dead raccoon in the culvert behind our house. Being a dog, she rolled in it. I was already in bed. Bob had let her out. She came in covered in the scent of rotting raccoon, thrilling Shelly the miniature dachshund and appalling Bob. He couldn't be around her without gagging.
This morning I got out of bed, filled the tub with cold water (she's always too hot) and conned her into it. I bathed her in baby shampoo as she patiently waited for opportunities to leap out of the bathtub. Finally, as I was filling the pitcher I was using to rinser her off--how can a dog that loves water so much, hate bathing so much--she leaped out and shook. I was wet, she was wet, the dachshund was wet, and suddenly both dogs were furiously happy. She's still a little soapy, but at least she doesn't smell like dead raccoon.
Of course, the raccoon was still out there. Bob asked if there was someone in the city we could call, but wonderful as it would be to have a dead animal removal service, I don't think they make housecalls. I know they pick them up off the streets, but they don't come to take them out of culverts. We have a dairy farm behind us and the culvert takes the runoff from 70 acres and channels it to a pond in the middle of our development. When it rains hard, the culvert, which is about five feet deep and quite wide, can fill and flood but normally there's just a narrow stream running to the drain.
The farmer has had an Amish crew selectively cutting trees from the area of woods behind us. They chainsaw the big trees down, cut them up, and use a pair of draft horse--big, patient brown horses with pale manes who snort condensation like smoke in the rain--to pull the logs to a truck. I don't know what the arrangement is, if the Amish were hired and they hired the truck or if someone contracted with the Amish crew to do the cutting. The Amish, of course, don't drive. What they can and cannot do is determined by the elders of their particular church. The decision is based on whether it will reduce their reliance on the community. So cars and trucks aren't allowed, but for example, the kids can use rollerblades.
There isn't enough land around here for the Amish. they have large families, as a rule, and although traditionally they've farmed, now they're turning to other trades. Furniture making. Construction. Factory work. Some of the girls clean houses. They can't own power tools, but they can work for someone who owns the tools and use them on a construction site. The can't drive, so they hire someone to drive them to the worksite and pick them up. Someone drops them off at the farm in the morning, and then picks them up in the evening, I'm sure.
Although there are a lot of trees still standing, cutting the biggest trees has meant more erosion. It's displaced a pair of turkey vultures who were probably nesting in one of the big trees. I wonder if it has done the same to our pair of redtailed hawks. We've had a pair here for years. I suspect that the raccoon may have been a casualty of the logging, although I don't know. It was full grown but not big. Or maybe it just died. With fewer trees there is some more erosion. I was going to pick it up with a shovel and dump it in a garbage bag, but Bob recommended just burying it in situ. So that's what I did this afternoon. I took a spade out to the culvert to where it was lying, the dull yellow-white of it's skull showing through it's wet pelt, and shoveled dirt on it. When I had a nice mound, I piled some big rocks on top of the mound, or Smith will probably just dig it up again.
I was really winded by hauling the rocks. I'm out of shape and chemo has reduced my lung capacity. But I don't think Smith can get to the raccoon body anymore. It's a little cairn out there now. It won't hold for more than a season or two, but by the time the water has washed it away, the bugs will have taken care of the carcass.
Wednesday I'll take Smith to Pet's Mart where she'll be bathed and groomed and the last lingering traces of dead raccoon will be rinsed away. |
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