The Connecticutian

Some of you may know about my fascination with the praying mantis.  Well, in early June while I was gardening, I saw a baby mantis, and just the other day, Lara and I saw a young mantis on the back deck.  The very next day, I saw a mantis on our welcome mat on the deck — perhaps even the same mantis.  I will name him Sven.  Here is Sven: 

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of one of our cats retching. It turns out, one of them vomited on my Joy of Cooking. I’m trying to figure out if I should take it personally.

We got a fancy new camera today. I took pictures of the cats. Here’s Cliche with her tongue sticking out — guess she’s getting ready to take a drink.

And here’s a cute picture of little Tillie.

I found out that I accidentally left an open can of cat food on the counter. That’s way they were so quiet and not bothering us. I could hear the quiet sound of licking in the next room. Naughty cats.

No ‘possums in the garage today, but we saw the cute litttle one climbing our fence this evening and scurrying away. Glad he’s eating our pests. We haven’t named them yet. I think we will on our next sighting of them.

Okay, so maybe it’s temporary. Sujal came in from work regaling me with his heroic adventure: He braved being passed by what were two opossums. After having survived this harrowing event, we went out to our garage, armed with a flashlight, me in PJs and slippers. We looked around for any creatures finding a cowering opossum in the corner of our garage — cornered by Sujal’s car, a large plastic bin, and other assorted garage “stuff.”

I was fine with living and let live. Recently cats have been getting in our garage and sitting on our cars. We know from the paw prints on our cars and windshields. We began to think perhaps it was the ‘possums. So I checked my trusty wildlife guides — and ‘possum prints look quite different than cat prints. Sujal wanted me to call animal control — so I did, and they directed me (via a recorded message) to the Department of Environmental Protection. When I called them, it was obvious that the wildlife they deal with are sizable, like moose.

I found this cool site, the FAQ page of the Opossum Society of the US. There was also this pretty hardcore site, the National Opossum Society. The first (Opossum Society of US) is really informative, and it seems the ‘possums are our friends, as I felt from the beginning. I can’t say I’ll become a member of either, but at least now I know that they take care of lots of pests, sort of like bats keep mosquito populations down.

Next time you see an opossum, remember, they’re keeping you pest free.

As my mother and I sat on my porch this morning, sipping coffee and chatting, we saw two Praying Mantis, one clinging to the outside of the window screen and the other hiding behind some tools — Cliche (the cat) found that one. I was watching the one clinging to the screen, and I think it was dying. During our conversation, it began to sag. Slowly, it’s body began turning brown. Autumn is such a wonderfully delicious season, but it’s also a reminder of death, especially the metaphoric death, that paves the way for rebirth. While it made me a little sad to see the Mantis dying, I remember that the sweet smell of fall leaves, the dying plants and insects are all necessary in the life cycle, so I take a moment to thank that mantis.