Around Town

By Sueko McLane suekomclane@actual-life.com

"Come quickly!", Dave cried out. Rushing into the kitchen, I found somebody peeping through the security door. Wow, I could see very closely this comical creature with a large head, long snout and chunky body. I said, "Good evening." She said nothing and turned around; we found another two wondering around in our backyard.

I suppose many people in this area have javelina stories: our first was four years ago. One night we heard a strange noise in our carport and there in the dark we found a dozen javelinas having a party with the old beans, rice, sugar, dry milk which I had carelessly left outside the trashcan. Since then, from time to time, we've seen their footprints everywhere in our backyard.

For a long time I pronounced 'javelina' incorrectly; now I know it should be 'ha-va-lee-na'. The website Desert USA says they are called javelina because of their razor-sharp tusks; Spanish for javelin or spear. The site also says they love prickly pear cactus because of its high water content. Aha! Now I know why they like to come to our backyard; we have some prickly pears. If I have a chance, I want to see how they eat such pears with a lot of needles.