The Thing That Lives Under The Porch

9/25/2015

We have a cement porch on the front of our house.  After 29 years of ground settling and who knows what else, there is a rather large gap between the ground and the porch.  This space, I believe, is haven to who knows what kind of animals.

I know that sometimes when I let Sam out to pee on his favorite boxwood, which is almost completely dead - go figure - he can smell something.  He will go behind the boxwood, where the large gap is and sniff around.  Sam knows that something is down there.  Westies are bred to go to ground.  They can find small animals and mice are a particular favorite thing to hunt.

So I have lived with the knowledge that I'm fine with whatever is under the porch stays under the porch.  This is the same mantra I have about mice coming into the house.  Stay in the garage and we can all be friends.  Get into the house and it's mouse traps for you.

One day this week, I opened the front door and scurrying across the sidewalk was an animal.  This guy was big.  He was black with a bushy tail and probably a foot long.  He didn't look like a racoon or possum.  He actually reminded me more of a porcupine!  When this guy saw me, he took off like a marathon runner and dove under the porch.

I always imagined that Chip and Dale (chipmunks) lived under the porch and that sounded nice, because they're so cute.  But this dude was big and ugly.  You wouldn't be able to catch this guy with a simple mouse trap, he's just too big.  

Since I've seen him and he's seen me, it's likely that our paths won't cross again.  I'm as afraid of him as I'm sure he is of me. 

We used to put dried ears of corn out in the winter for the squirrels to chew on.  The squirrels loved having a buffet right in the front yard, but it also meant that they had no reason to leave our oak tree.  Because I don't really want this guy under the porch, there is no way I'm going to start feeding him, which would only encourage him to stay.

I'm not positive that our "house guest" looks exactly like this, but it's a pretty good example.  Since both the animal and I were stunned to see each other, I didn't see his face, only the bottom end, which looked a lot like this.

P