child's tender touch

pumpkin knows its job is done

"happy Halloween"

— haiku by Nona Mock Wyman, Walnut Creek

Dear Gary:

For the past two mornings, when I have gone to the garage (detached from the house) and opened the door, I've found an obstacle course from things that have been knocked down off shelves.

Some items are lightweight and others are a bit heavier. Obviously something is in the garage. Besides cats, raccoons, and roof rats, what other animals can climb 8 feet up and knock down things that weigh at least 3 to 5 pounds?

I've been pounding on the car before I get in to scare critters out from under the hood. I also left the garage side door open during the day to let the critter escape.

Kathy Tate, Concord

Dear Kathy:

Sounds like an opossum.

Opossums are nocturnal, sleeping all day and out foraging for food all night. They often spend the day sleeping in garages, where there are lots of places to hide. And since they sleep when we are awake, you can work in your garage without seeing them.

I've seen opossums in action in garages before. When they look for a place to sleep, they often climb up on shelves and waddle along behind the objects that are sitting there. This, of course, knocks the objects off the shelves.

Opossums get up and go foraging after dark, so close the garage side door when you go to bed. That way when the opossum comes "home" before

Dear Gary:

We occasionally have large hawks and owls in our oak tree.

While picking up fallen twigs under the tree last weekend I found two gray, fur-wrapped bird pellets in excellent condition. They are the size of large peach pits. Do you know if there is a local organization that would like to have them for educational purposes?

Julie Lindemann,

Moraga

Dear Julie:

Contact your local high school and talk to the science teachers. They might like to dissect the pellets in class to show their students what local owls eat for dinner. Pellets contain materials the owls can't digest "... fur and bones. You can figure out what species they eat by looking at the skulls (gophers, mice, voles, roof rats, etc.).

Shepherd found

Last Sunday a male German shepherd was found at the Starbucks at Isabel Avenue and Vineyard Road, Pleasanton. The young dog is now at the East County Animal Shelter in Dublin. They keep lost dogs five days for the owner to claim and then put them up for adoption. Could it be yours? Looking for one to adopt? The shelter's phone is 925-803-7040. Thanks to Donna Skelley of Livermore for passing this along.

A final note

A few days ago you reminded people not to hang bird netting down too close to the ground to keep from trapping passing snakes.

I walk my pooches in the Shell Ridge Open Space every day, and sad to say in the past year alone I found a rattler and two gopher snakes tangled up in the landscape nets that were supposed to prevent soil erosion. The net was made of nylon instead of biodegradable materials. The trapped snakes were picked off by other predators in no time; not a fair fight. I can just imagine how many snakes are trapped this way each year.

Public agencies that order installation of these nets should be educated on the harm it can cause to many ground-crawling species. (George H., Walnut Creek)