Notes from the Hollow

With plans to change the oil, I opened the hood of the Land Cruiser today and three rats scattered. They hid in various spots: behind the carburetor, between the radiator and grill, and inside the windshield washer fluid container. The rats appear to be Eastern Woodrats, a common enough animal around here. If I had to choose the type of rat I had in the hollow, it would be the native woodrat and not the European rats that immigrated to America with the first white people.

I am mighty, I am king
See my power, hear me sing

My purr entrances
My mew calls forth
Feed me peasant
Show me your worth

For I am Tolkien, I am cat
Give me food and make me fat

My will controls you
My voice commands
And after I eat
I'll have new demands

For I am your master, I am your god
You are my servant, you are my dog

Steven Raye Weems
Copyright ©2009 Steven Raye Weems

This is a poem I wrote long ago when I could still write. I found it today on poetry.com where I had apparently posted it. It is about the first cat we had, Tolkien.

I've noticed that when a house is built near the rim of the hollow, rain runoff is affected. The water drains in new places and at different volumes. A small draw that used to rarely have water run down it will now flow after a short hard rain.

On the south side of the hollow, some land is for sale and a few acres of woods were bulldozed by the landowner. Now the small narrow hollow that runs from there handles a lot more water than it used to. The cleared land no longer absorbs at the same rate it once did. We've had lots of rain this past couple weeks but most of it has been slow and steady. But with the way water drainage has been changed from the clearing of the forest, this new ditch (shown in the photograph) washed out in a short time.

My late grandfather, Jack McCall, who lived on the Kings River in Carroll County, Arkansas, knew quite a lot about red wolves from first hand experience. (According to the Arkansas Fish and Game Commission, one of the last holdouts of the red wolf in Arkansas was here in Carroll County.) Sadly, much of his knowledge came from hunting the wolf - there was a bounty here on wolves up into at least the late 1960's. But he also learned from observation and listening to them howl. He could tell the difference between the wolves' howls and that of the encroaching coyotes, of course, but also, later he could look at a coyote and tell you if it had much wolf in it. At the end of his life he lamented to me once what had been lost by the disappearance of the wolf here.

Yesterday, some red wolf pups were flown from a zoo in Chicago to North Carolina to be placed in the dens of proven red wolf mothers. Apparently, when the pups are so young, about a week in this case, they can be given to foster wolves to be raised. The wolves were introduced to eastern North Carolina because there are fewer coyotes for the wolves to compete and genetically combine.

The only red wolves I've ever seen were at the National Zoo in Washington DC.

Last night I was in one of our out buildings and heard the sound of a rat scurrying in the attic of the building. I would trap them, but I’m afraid of catching a squirrel or snake. Which brings me to the pair of big black snakes that live in the attic also – I’ve seen them many times. One is long and skinny, maybe five foot long. The other is probably six foot with a thick, heavy body. Not pythons, but long snakes for in the hollow. To leave the attic, they come out under the eaves and stretch to a tree and climb down to the ground. Anyway, last night the rat was scurrying along when something grabbed it and the rat commenced to make loud terrified squeaking sounds. After quite a long time, the squeaking got quieter and quieter. Then there was a terrible thumping that also got quieter and quieter. Finally all was silent except for the occasional almost soundless movement of something up above. By the way, if you are looking for a black snake in a guide to reptiles, you may have to look it up under its other name: rat snake.