Let’s start with a few recent quotes:
- “I know who you are. You walk on my road,” the waitress at Johnny B’s when I picked up wings on Super Bowl Sunday.
- “Love your hair! You have that whole fairy princess/Little Mermaid vibe going on,” two young women at Kennesaw State University the night Mike and I went to see the students perform Sponge Bob the Musical.
- “I saw you here last week and thought how cool you are – I want to be just like you when I’m older!” customer service woman at WalMart not realizing the whopping customer service mistake she had just made!
And now, the story.
The garbage gets picked up on our road on Tuesday mornings. So this past Tuesday, around noon, I walked to the end of the driveway to bring back the empty bin and check the mail. When I got there, I happened to see the woman who lives across the road from us, not directly across, but the next lot over. Her husband’s name is Jamie, but I can’t remember her name. I waved and said hi! She waved back and said hi, and then she yelled, “Wait a minute! I’ve got to tell you something!”
As we walked toward each other, the thought flitted through my mind that she had maybe been watching in her house for me to come out to the mailbox!
Jamie’s wife said, “There were cougars in the yard last night! Making horrible noises – it is mating season, you know, and they are mean! Even setting off car alarms!”
Cougars? Car alarms? Why didn’t Mike and I hear the noise? How do cougars set off car alarms? I did not want to sound skeptical, so I kept my questions, and doubts, to myself.
“I know you go out walking, and I just wanted to warn you not to until mating season is over!”
She watches me when I’m walking?
She’s telling me not to go walking?
“Are the cougars out in the daytime?” I asked.
“Yeah they are around in the daytime. I just wanted to let you know. They are mean, and big! Their tails are this long!” And she spread her arms as far as they would go.
Those are long tails!
Then Jamie’s wife pointed to the driveway next door to us. Not the one that we share with Dan on this side of the house, but rather the neighbors on the other side, the ones who don’t believe in mufflers on their pickup trucks, the ones whose conversations when they are outside can be clearly and eerily heard by us when our back porch door is open. Jamie’s wife pointed to our neighbor’s drive and said “they’re missing their Siamese cat – if you happen to see it, let them know.”
“Is the cat’s name Kitty Bear?” I asked. And yes, the cat’s name is Kitty Bear. How in the world did I know? I had just heard the woman next door calling for Bubba Dog and Kitty Bear a few minutes earlier!
Was Jamie’s wife hinting that maybe the cougars got Kitty Bear, and they could get me too?
I thanked her very much for letting me know, and as I headed down the driveway with the garbage bin and junk mail, there were so many thoughts swirling through my head that I neglected to be on the watch for cougars in our woods.
Of course I texted Mike and told him about the conversation. A response was texted almost immediately – faster than his usual reactions to my messages. His text included a link to an article the gist of which said there are no cougars in the entire state of Georgia.
Exactly what I was predicting from my husband!
Then he texted that I should go check our trail cam for cougars!
Nice try Hubby! We have two acres of woods, and a camera is strapped to a tree ‘way out in the back – it takes pictures of any wildlife that happens by. If I thought for a moment there might be cougars on the trail cam, then that would mean there are cougars in our woods, and he wants me to walk through those woods to find out? I don’t think so!
But what is more disturbing than the slim chance of a wild animal being ready to maul me is the realization that people are watching me when I’m out walking!
This reminded me of my grandfather who used to tease my grandmother about knowing all the comings and goings of all the neighbors on their city street. They had nicknames for everyone – I think my grandfather was as guilty of the habit as my grandmother. One time they even told me it was not polite for me to peer into neighbors’ windows with the binoculars! But, you know, the binoculars were right there, sitting out! (I don’t think my grandparents used them to look in windows however.)
And my North Georgia neighbors – they’re……. watching? Lurking at their windows? If I had gone out for a walk that afternoon, would more neighbors have come outside to warn me about the cougars? Would they have scolded me for being out after I had been warned? Are they laughing at me now at how they’ve suckered me into staying home?
Do they have nicknames for me? What are they thinking? Maybe they want to be just like me when they get old? Are they thinking the same thing my grandmother used to say about me? I lived with my grandmother when I was in college, and I took the city bus to school every day. She used to watch from the window as I walked to the bus stop, and she told the rest of our family, “Denny walks so slow, every morning I wonder if she’s ever going to get to where she’s going to!”
It looks like I’m stuck in the house here on Junior’s Farm for a while. And there are so many chores I can get done! Sigh. Does anyone know when mating season is over?
So I told this story at our weekly storytelling/workshop zoom yesterday – found out a whole bunch about cougars from my fellow listeners – there are definitely cougars in Georgia; their shrill shriek can set off car alarms; mating season is over the third week in June; it is likely safe enough for me to go walking as the cougars steer clear of humans and do not care for their taste! Of course, I had to go to the trail cam after that – returned safe and sound and with no pictures of anything but 3 deer, 1 possum, a squirrel and beautiful scenery!
Have a most wonderful weekend!
