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Animals at the Barn were a varied experience: deer who would wander up to graze in the front lawn, squirrels who would chew through anything in sight, and mice, wasps, ants, spiders, a groundhog, and even the occasional bat. Pippin the cat, aside from the occasional visiting pet, was the only legitimate animal at the Barn. Pippin refused to go unnoticed, however, and left us with a bunch of memories as well. Certainly the most amazing animal experience at the Barn was the monstrous moose that meandered through the yard one evening during dinner.
CATS
When we first moved into the Barn, there were already two cats living
there--Neptune and Pluto. One of the previous residents had left them,
apparently thinking we wouldn't mind taking them off his hands. They
were nice, but none of us really wanted the responsibility, and they
were flea-ridden. In fact, come to think of it, our entire house was
full of fleas because of them. Finally, we got the owner to come back
for them. Several months later, we finally managed to expunge all of
the fleas from the house.
SPIDERS
Spiders were so numerous at the Barn that you simply had to adjust to
seeing them daily... or move out. They ranged from tiny little
spiders almost too small to see from more than a foot away to enormous
jungle-size ones who showed up once or twice.
SQUIRRELS
Squirrels lived in the walls and ceilings for a long time, until we
finally found the holes they were using to get in and blocked them
off. We starved them for a while, then opened up the holes again and
two very hungry baby squirrels came out. There mother, we feared, had
died in the ceiling. For several days, a squirrel tail hung down
through a crack into the house. Fred thought the reason that it
didn't moved when we touched it was because it was scared. BJ spent
two hours ripping panels off of the house, removing insulation, and
probing around blindly with a long metal bar before finally excavating
the carcass.
It's hard to believe, but Mark actually woke up one morning with a squirrel standing on his chest. What did Mark do? He promptly shooed it off, pulled a blanket over his head and went back to sleep. Pippin, meanwhile, had fun chasing the squirrel for another hour or so until the rest of us woke up.
DEER
Friendly deer came around often. We put corn out for them now and then,
but I'm not sure they ever found it. They loved to eat the fallen
crabapples on some of the nearby trees, or just chew on some of the
grass in the lawn. It was not uncommon to see several at once, and
they'd come all the way up to the stone wall in the yard--about 15 feet
from where we were watching through the big dining area windows.
BATS
They would do circle around the upstairs as we stood guard with tennis
rackets. Enough said.
MOOSE
It was pretty incredible to see. Someone just happened to glance down
in the field as we were eating dinner one night, and there it was,
staring our way. Despite its distance from us, the hugeness of the
creature was hard to mistake. It didn't stop for long, continuing its
walk across the field and back into the woods.
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Yup, that's a (dead) squirrel's tail hang through a crack. |
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Pippin checks out the squirrel's tail with Fred's help. This is probably from before we knew it was dead. |
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You can see our patch covering the hole where the squirrels got in. BJ spent two hours removing the carcass from in there. |
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The baby squirrels finally came out of our ceiling. They were hungry and very friendly, as Fred was even able to pet them! |
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Sampson takes a swat while Pippin looks on. |
| A mouse in the kitchen trash pail. |
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A groundhog pays a visit. |
| A deer in the parking area. |
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Three deer in the yard. |