Sally, Benji, BeeBeekins, and Wild

Creatures of small-city life

Our Neighborhood is full of critters. There’s wildlife, of course: mice, squirrels, crows, jays, owls, and the occasional rat. And there are humans, too – college kids who do their mating calls mostly on weekends. A few months ago, I learned about an animal I’d never heard of before and will not identify so you can feel the surprise I felt when I met him one dark and early morning while out for a walk. There’s a video below you can watch…if you dare.

Our neighbor Ellen is an elderly woman with scoliosis so bad she’s a human S. Despite it all, she walks her dog Sally twice a day, cane in one hand, leash in the other. Sally’s a mostly deaf Chihuahua with cataracts so thick you’d think there were white marbles in her eye sockets. Sally’s strong, too, when there’s a scent to follow, strong enough to have pulled Ellen over last month, leaving her with a couple of broken ribs and a considerable dip in her confidence. Thankfully, there’s a son in the house who can do the walking, but I don’t see him out and about like I used to see Ellen. I’ve heard she’s feeling better, so maybe Sally will get her walks back soon.

Ann lives four doors down from Ellen. She’s 96. Used to be a pilot. Last year her kids tried to move her closer to where they are on the east coast, but she said, no way, and sent them home. She used to walk Beebeekins — another deaf and tiny dog — every day until he left this earth a while back. At Christmas she’d leave a card and some peanut butter cookies on our porch signed Merry Christmas, From Ann and Beebeekins, xoxo. Now she walks with a much younger man who keeps an eye on her.

Down the street, Stacy is the resident advisor in one of Oregon State’s dormitories. She’s got Cerebral Palsy, I think, although I’ve never asked. She exits her ground floor apartment on a blood-red motorized scooter with Benji the Terrier on board. He leans into the wind as though he’s the captain of that ship, while Wild, the Black Lab Service Dog, trots along beside them. Wild’s a shy boy, so gentle you wonder if he’d respond if Stacy had an issue. When I saw her without him the other day, she told me he was getting old (14) so she’s giving him more time off. She also told me she and a friend went sky diving recently.

But it’s the black cat who wanders our neighborhood who occupies my thoughts today. I see her wandering around a lot, but talked with her for the first time a couple of weeks ago when she was sleeping behind the back tire of a car parked on tenth street. I tried to coax her out, even wondered if she was injured somehow, but she was calm and confident, determined, really, to stay exactly where she was. She was gone when I came back to check on her twenty minutes later.

I met that cat again when she sauntered out of our house one fine morning a couple of weeks ago. She must have gone in when I went out to get the mail. I searched and sniffed everywhere to be sure she hadn’t been inside too long, even told Brent not to be surprised if he found a random turd in his office, but there was no sign of her visit.

Recently, though, she’s discovered the new cushions in our backyard. Brent found her curled up on one of them twice this past weekend. Yesterday I had a chance to pet her for a while, which she welcomed, not desperately but as though she was used to it and happy to oblige. I got a look at her tags too, learned her name is Magnet and that the two of us have a lot in common.

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Here’s that mystery video:

Don’t be deceived. This little fella was not so little. More like the size of a medium dog. At first, I was talking to him like he and I were going to be pals, like maybe he was a beaver and that this would be my first beaver siting (exciting for an OSU fan!), but then he headed towards me and I noticed his tail was not beaver-like so I skedaddled. I learned later that day this guy is a Nutria, basically a giant rat.