Skeeter’s job

When it rains, things grow. When things grow, other things come to eat. Skeeter lies in wait for all things to gather here.

Skeeter is now 5 years old and is my resident killer. Oh, Petticoat flirts with the occasional bird or mouse but her heart belongs to the miles far and wide beyond the fence. Skeeter is dedicated to keeping the the fenced in area around the house safe from all critters: mice, voles, chipmunks, squirrels and rabbits.

Each day Skeeter brings me something. She has a certain trill she makes to announce the arrival of her fresh kill. She’s a thoughtful killer and chomps with deadly efficiency. She brings me her prize and during two particular weeks, she brought me 3-5 dead things a day.

Early in the summer we had lots of rain. It rained every day and everything grew. Especially the wild raspberries that overtake any space inside the fence. The fruit this year was unprecedented. Thousand of the tiny wild berries that offer a sour/sweet taste of summer.

All the critters around the area flocked to the fence and dared cross into Skeeter’s territory.

Skeeter got her name because she’s pesty like a mosquito. She wants attention and isn’t afraid to ask for it. She wants food and she won’t stop until she gets it. She sleeps right next to my head all night long and isn’t easily moved. She has a perch in the bedroom and the front room. Her vet describes her as ‘the most muscular cat I’ve ever seen.’ She is built to hunt and she does it well.

She lies in wait amongst the berries and moves like lightning she she sights her pray. It’s frustrating and I feel bad she takes out so many critters around here. Petticoat is kind enough to venture next door to the Rhyghs’ house and kill their mice but over here it’s Skeeter’s territory.

You’d think there’d be lots of mousey corpses laying around but there isn’t. Near as I can tell the raccoons come through at night and clean up Skeeter’s handiwork. Either that or there’s a lot of little bones under the deck.

Every morning my little feline pair head out in search of adventure and a quick meal. Skeeter prefers the berry patch in summer and under the deck in winter.

I had to stop feeding birds because The Girls kept killing everything that landed. That’s a problem with birds like juncos who won’t eat out of feeder. The seed that drops down and falls through the segments in the deck are quick meals for the mice so I had to stop the cycle. No bird feeders. No mice, or so I thought.

Skeeter keeps bringing me a prize every day this summer and I can’t help but wonder that if for all the ones I do see, how many more are there that I don’t see?

Skeeter finds them all. Sitting there patiently and quietly in the tall grass.