Thursday, August 22, 2013

Mountain Lion, Skunk, & an Anniversary

Cloudy and Shady are not happy with me.  I have not allowed them outside to play, as usual, since I arrived to care for them.  The first day, it was because a coyote had attacked Bandit, the cat next door, just before I got there.  Yesterday, it was still due to coyote anxiety.  Last night, a neighbor spotted a mountain lion running through her yard at about 6 p.m. - she contacted me, and I sent out a Wildlife Warning immediately. About 9 last night, I kept thinking I smelled something rotten, but convinced myself otherwise.  I received a note this morning stating that one of the neighbors, and his dog, had "an incident" with a skunk while out for a walk...  Peter says he wishes he'd run into the mountain lion instead of the skunk.
   Rosie was very happy to see me this morning, as were my kits, when I got back to the apartment.  Lovey has rubbed all over me, and Nedi keeps coming back for a rub, but then trots back outside.  Yesterday, Bea and I visited the Olive Garden for lunch, then wandered to the library, and then over to Alfalfa's.  Alfalfa's is the all-natural, all organic, no GMOs grocery store that had Bea and I followed when we had stepped in to see what they were offering.  I wrote a letter of complaint to the store's website, and, finally, Bea and I agreed to revisit the store.  The general manager, assistant manager, and the manager of the wine department all met with us, and gave us $25 gift cards.  They still claim that the employee was just wandering on his break, and he unintentionally ended up drifting in our wake...
  I have to admit a huge gap in my knowledge.  I had seen older maps showing Ocean City and Assateague Island in Maryland on the same piece of land.  I had always thought that was just a mistake.  It wasn't, and I was just made aware of it.   Sinepuxent Bay runs between the mainland and Assateague Island up to Ocean City, Maryland.  Before the great hurricane of 22 August 1933, 80 years ago today, Assategue Island and Ocean City were the same land mass.  The hurricane cut what is now the Ocean City Inlet, and destroyed many homes that were built upon that stretch of land.  A few were swept away immediately, but most succumbed to to the repeated washing of the tides over several months.  Men had tried to make an inlet between the Bay and the Atlantic, but the Atlantic end always sealed up with sand... this time, the sand continued to wash away. I feel silly for not having known this.  For much more information, if interested, please see:  http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20130822/WCT/308220060/ocean-city-inlet-storm-of-33-hurricane-of-1933

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