Neotoma cinerea

Suprisingly (at least to us), we were once again visited by a Neotoma cinerea aka Bushy Tailed Wood-rat aka Pack Rat. Albeit this time it was a somewhat pleasant & amusing encounter. We were sitting in the Cardinal last evening about 8:00 p.m. with the door open including the screen as there are no misquotes or flies to worry about. Teddy was working on a jigsaw puzzle and I was in the midst of the daily newspaper crossword when out of my peripheral vision I saw a little furry animal scamper into the door. I yelped at Teddy, "What was that!". She turned just in time to see him turn around and hightail it back out of the door. We chuckled in amazement & thought that that was the end of it, but to our amazement he/she popped in and out three more times in the next ten minutes as we sat quietly and watched. At that point I fetched my camera but as is always the case when you are ready with camera in hand, he didn't appear again. They are cute little animals but can be quite destructive with their nest building activities so we aren't going to invite him back again. Needless to say, we closed the door before retiring.

Lake Havasu City

We arrived at Havasu Falls RV Resort in Lake Havasu City, AZ Tuesday afternoon about 4:00PM. http://www.havasufallsrvresort.com/
Drove about an hour through a snow storm south of Salt Lake. There appeared to be about five inches on the ground near where I-70 ends at I-15. It wasn't a lot of fun but at least I didn't get sleepy driving! Anyway we were happy to get here with mid 70s temps. and hugs from friends that we met last year here. (Snowbirds are starting to arrive)

Pack Rat Woes

Last Friday I went out to start the truck and oops! the batteries were dead. So I got out my trusty battery charger and opened the hood. And...what did I find...a nicely built pack rat's nest stuck down in the engine compartment made with insulation material from the firewall, insulation from a wire and lined with cacti, ouch! I pulled the nest out, wraped the wire with black tape and charged the battery. Then I borrowed an animal trap from one of the rangers, baited it with a piece of shiny tin foil and caught this little fellow the next morning. We were going to Vernal, UT the next day so now he is a resident of Utah. I released him at a rest stop in Utah about 20 miles from here. Here is his picture.Pack Rat aka Bushytail Woodrat (Neotoma cinerea).