Home Depot is clearancing the plants in their garden center, so I picked up an entire flat of Vinca minor, aka Creeping Myrtle, aka Periwinkle. I plan on planting them beneath our River Birch that we put in last year on the corner of the lot. I adore creeping myrtle. Mom had it growing at the other house, and I almost dug it out to bring over to The Box House. However, we still hope to sell that property one day, so left it all there because it looks so nice.
Unfortunately, it's been freezing here in Chicago this week, so gardening isn't really what I'm in the mood for; but when the price is right...
Anyway, for those of you who have no interest in my gardening escapades, how about this: Ted and I spotted a coyote last night, about two blocks away from our house!!
The coyote in the photo is just a representative sample, but this is about how close we were to it. We were driving down the block in the course of our errands, and he was walking calmly into the road. He was obviously used to cars, because he dodged them all with ease and headed over to the park next to the school. We pulled over and watched him a bit as he frolicked around and marked his territory. (Now I wonder if some of that dog poop I've been finding in the yard is really coyote excrement??? I'll have to Google-search now for pics of scat.)Now, a lot of you are like, "It's a coyote, big deal." But I'm a Chicago girl, and it's kind of magical to find him living in an urban area.
Magical for me, probably not the greatest environment for him.
14 comments:
Yeah, coyotes :-) (Your cats don't go outside, do they?)
Absolutely not. They're definitely indoor kitties. :-)
...Although as big as our cats are getting, they might be able to take one down.
A coyote watched me park my car the other night. Just stood there and watched me the whole time. Then he went across the street and a buddy of his came to greet him. So there I am at 11:30 at night, alone and wondering if I should get out of my car 'cause I'm surrounded by coyotes. Big ones, too. And this is a completely 'hood.
I heard a story on NPR that said Chicago is full of coyotes. People just don't see them.
"urban" 'hood. Totally urban. In view of downtown LA urban.
Why S? --
I had heard there were coyotes in the Chicago area, but I had no idea the population numbered in the thousands until I Googled last night. Many of the neighbors on our block have spotted them, but this was my first. :-)
I had noticed that we almost never spot rats in the alleys around here, unlike when I lived a few neighborhoods to the South. I wonder if the coyotes are keeping the rat population in check?
And I came across a number of interviews with wildlife biologists who said the urban coyotes are pretty harmless; just keep your cats and small pups indoors, and don't leave them unattended.
I hope I spot one again!
There were foxes where I live this summer (they seem to have moved several blocks away to a more wooded area.) They really went after the local squirrel population, but gave humans a wide berth. This is in a semi-suburb.
I am sure a cat or smallish dog would have been in big trouble.
Karen Anne! I've not seen a fox since I lived in Minnesota; they're so cute. And we could certainly use some to keep the squirrel population in check 'round here, they're just awful this year. I have to give our dumpster a kick before throwing any trash in it, because they keep managing to find a way inside.
One of my fox visitors :-)
baby fox
Oooh, sweet! What great pictures. :-)
Don't know if I'd say it was magical to see a coyote in the neighborhood, but it's certainly interesting. I was much relieved that the photo was only a representative sample and that you weren't actually that close. We had one run in front of our car not long ago, but it was a couple miles from the house. Our neighbor dug out a lot of periwinkle from a house he's trying to sell and gave some to us. Good luck with yours.
I hate, hate, hate, hate, Periwinkle with a passion. Unless it is blooming, which makes me forget how much I hate it.
@MrBrown Thumb
Heh-heh, I'll probably regret planting it once it attempts to take over everything else in the garden...
The stuff I planted is throwing out a few late blooms right now, which are quite pretty.
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