More Critters and Varmints in Central New Jersey

Dragons may be next.

It is a well known fact that I have battled with critters of all kinds in my house.  Rats, cats, bats, gnats - all the rhyming pests have been after me.  Outside the house, despite the constant hunting, chasing and barking by my dog Zelda, the yard is still under siege to squirrels and a groundhog. I am always cautious when opening the back door, in case I have visitors on the deck. Until now, I've considered my encounters with all this fauna to be typical for living in a suburban New Jersey town. I have even seen a coyote loping across an open field a few miles away, and deer are everywhere.

However, this past week I encountered a new critter that actually caused me to do a double take. I was in the driveway, with Zelda on a leash, ready to put her in the car to take her for a ride with me. Normally, this thrills her and she can't wait to jump in. This time, however, instead of jumping in the back seat, she tried to crawl under the car. I was holding her in place, but her feet were still pedaling along. With great effort I hauled her up and into the car, where she immediately jumped into the front seat and pressed her nose against the windshield, looking, looking, looking.

I figured that a cat, or some dry leaves or a stray piece of newspaper was under the car, I knew that if it was a cat, it would come running out the minute I started the car. When I revved up the engine, nothing ran out, so I thought, dry leaves or garbage. I started to back the car out when something reddish popped up in front of the car.  Something slow and feathery — a chicken! A chicken that was completely unperturbed by the engine of the car, a chicken who just ruffled up her feathers,  deposited some lovely chicken droppings on my driveway, and slowly waddled away. I've since realized that down the street, some is actually keeping chickens, and I swear, I heard a goat, too.

Who knows, maybe there is going to be a cattle drive down my street soon. I better keep the dog in the house.