You can tell that summer is ending when the wild animals start hunkering down around the Sondag’s house.  The hillsides are bone dry and the water and greenery around the house attracts all kinds of miscreants and flamboyant fauna.

Andy just walked in shaking his head.  Driving up the driveway he had to avoid the turkeys and a cat, for starters. It’s been rather routine the last couple of weeks that, as one approaches the top of the driveway, the deer – a doe, two fauns, and the mucho macho, drop-dead handsome buck – stand up from where they are nestled under the oleander bushes as if they are greeting us as royalty.  What made me get the giggles though was when Andy said even Jacques, the neighbor’s rooster, was hanging out up here with the deer.   What the…?  Earlier today I saw and heard hawks screeching back and forth in front of the house.  It’s party time here apparently.

Night isn’t much better.  Ed the Dog only got that one skunk last week, and it is clear by the aroma in the night air that they are still out there in full force. Poor Ed is under house arrest after dark for the time being. Last night when I went to bed at midnight the owls were at it again outside my window.  Do you think the wildlife got the wrong impression after I put that St. Francis statue in the garden?  It really does seem excessive right now.

Oh well. As far as the rodents who flock to the warm house this time of the year, it is time to get a box of Bounce fabric softener.  I got an email last year that said it works to repel rodents and so I scattered an entire box in the crawlspace under the house and sure enough, I didn’t hear any critters running in my walls last year.  This year we also have Andy’s cat and I am learning, whether I like it or not, that what they say about cats and their sadistic attitude towards their prey is rivalled only by their utter disgust for the fool who feeds them cat food.   Between the skunk and the recent mouse murder (and her daily snack of lizard down at the woodpile), it’s been like Friday the 13th meets Animal Planet around here. 

What this all means is that summer is truly coming to an end.  Our first rain of the season is forecast for this weekend.  The winter rains in northern California are my favorite time of year – if I can’t have snow, at least I can have relentless pouring rain, a fire in the fireplace, a good book, and a 55 pound boxer to snuggle up with on the couch.  It may not actually get any better than that.