Adventures With Backyard Wild Animals

I don't know about you, but my stress level seems to just keep rising. Thank goodness I'm on blood pressure medicine.

These past two and a half months since the pandemic began to really hit our country has put different levels of stress on most people. For those who now work at home, it may make work harder, or in my sister's case, it has made life for her a bit better. Now she doesn't have to take the long ride to and from work everyday. She can work from the comforts of her home and she loves it. Well, for now anyway.

For those of us dealing with pandemic stress, add any other challenge that comes normally day in and day out, and your frustration just gets worse. Maybe it's not earth shattering things, but sometimes they just build up your stress level that much more.

Yesterday, I thought my stress level was about to go through the roof with worry because of one of my dogs. In addition to having a Greyhound, who by the way is afraid of everything in life, including the wind, I have an Italian Greyhound who looks like a miniature version of a Greyhound. He is the exact opposite of my Greyhound in terms of not being afraid of anything.

Lately, in my fenced in backyard, squirrels have been dropping in, mostly to try to break into my bird feeder. And all of a sudden, a woodchuck started making an appearance. While my Greyhound ignores everything, my Italian Greyhound is obsessed with the wildlife.

So, with that in mind, I always scan the backyard for those pesky wild animals, but yesterday, didn't see the woodchuck. My Italian Greyhound did, and like a bullet, he outran the woodchuck. It was not easy trying to get him off the animal. Fortunately my Italian Greyhound came out of it unscathed, but the woodchuck did not.

My stress level went through the roof, and I'm still a bit rattled. The whole incident could have gone badly. And it's not over. I've seen at least three more woodchucks wander into my yard. So much for fencing keeping them out. And how's your day going?