The Baldauf Women Strike Again!

Steer Clear of 'Beautiful' Wild Foxes
By JOY L. WOODSON - jwoodson@thestate.com

Forest Acres city officials are warning residents to stay away from wild foxes roaming through city neighborhoods.

While rabid foxes are not uncommon in Forest Acres, city administrator Mark Williams said he recently received a flurry of e-mails from concerned citizens who suspect folks are feeding the animals.

“That’s probably not a smart thing to do,” Williams said, “because foxes are a vector for rabies.”

This time of year, when pup foxes are old enough to search for food, residents may see more of them, said Tim Ivey, chief of regional wildlife operations with the state Department of Natural Resources. Although the animals are nocturnal, it’s not unusual to see the pups during the day, he added.

“They’re not aggressive by nature,” he said. “They are very timid normally.”

Ivey said recent construction has forced some foxes to leave their dens in search of new homes.
Rabies is a concern, but more often canine distemper causes foxes to become lethargic and less fearful of humans, Ivey said.

“When they see an animal like that they just need to stay a from it,” he said.

Mary Pat Baldauf, a Forest Acres resident, said she became concerned about the city’s fox population when she heard that people were feeding the animals.

“We keep hearing about these foxes and seeing them,” she said. “I was just concerned about people feeding wild animals and trying to tame them.”

Her mother, Mary Baldauf, said she and her husband have seen the foxes on evening walks or drives through the neighborhood. Other neighbors have seen the silver-haired animals sleeping on decks or in driveways “like they own the place,” she said.

“But they’re beautiful,” Baldauf said. “You’re kind of attracted because it’s an oddity.”

They don’t seem harmful but you never know, she added.

Each year, about 400 people in the state are treated against rabies, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control. There were 13 confirmed rabid animals in Richland County in 2006. Raccoons topped the list with seven confirmed cases; foxes followed with three cases.

DHEC spokeswoman Clair Boatwright said it seems nice when humans and animals get along, but it could be dangerous attracting them with food.

“It’s a sweet, kind thing to do, but it’s a risk,” she said.

SAFETY TIPS
Do not feed the animals or leave pet food outside. This encourages them to return.

Do vaccinate your pets. This reduces the chance of spreading rabies or other animal-related diseases to pets and owners.

Do not pet or adopt stray or wild animals that you do not know.

Do be wary of nocturnal animals, such as foxes and bats, out during the day or normally tame animals acting aggressive.

Do immediately wash wounds with soap and water if you are bitten, contact a doctor, and report the incident to the local health department.

SOURCE: Department of Health and Environmental Control

Remember Freedom Fries?

I actually ate at a restaurant in Red Bank a few weeks ago that had Freedom Fries on their menu.

My Scoop

Our Director of Solid Waste, Joe Mergo, is being promoted to Deputy County Administrator. It was announced at County Council last night and in the paper today, so it is official. I've known since Monday, but I couldn't tell anyone.

I am happy for Joe, but a little sad for us. He was a big part of the reason I took my new job. But Joe will be leading the search for his replacement, so I know we'll get someone good.

Love Mother Goose and Grimm

I'm Sitting on a Scoop

But I can't go public 'til tomorrow. Stay tuned. And it's NOT gossip, but the real thing.

Sad, But True

My office is located just near the intersection of Highways 302 and 6, smack dab in the center of "Meth Triangle."

Birthday Quandry

Should I change the description of this blog to read "41 year old" or "forty something year old?" Or just stay in denial and keep it 40? Ha ha ha! This birthday has crept up on me; are all of them past 40 this non-eventful? And is anyone who reads this even OVER forty??

Scary Fox Story

This afternoon, one of our recycling workers was bitten by a fox! He was at one of the sites, stooping near a recycling bin, and a fox came out and bit at him. It actually only got his pants leg, not his leg, but it was scary. He killed it, and DHEC was coming out to get it for testing.

Regular readers know that there is a fox flurry in our neighborhood, and now it concerns me. People are feeding them and such, and the foxes have no fear. Yes, while foxes bite some people and some people kill foxes, Sister and I go on fox hunts. (At least we stay in the car. And I would NEVER feed one!)

Cool Tool

Sister recently told me about a cool tool from Google: Google Alerts. You can tailor it in a couple of ways. I have a daily search set for “recycling” and “Lexington County Solid Waste Management." It's alerted me to some really neat stuff, such as the inclusion of our Reuse-A-Shoe event information on various Web sites, information that is otherwise hard to track.

My New Environmental Blog

As part of my new TRASHformations Web site, which hopefully you've all visited, I've included a new blog. It will include information about my TRASHformations products and site, as well as neat environmental tidbits that I run across.

For now, posts are open, but if Anonymous gets mouthy about the environmental part, I reserve the right to review comments before posting. Anonymous, you know who you are, and I do, too! Hee hee!

THIS Is My Winnie!

Yep. Even though he always has good, fresh food in his bowl, he'd rather go for whatever is in the kitchen trash can. Last night it was coffee ground; Wednesday night, waaaaay leftever spaghetti. We just can't keep him out of it! (A dog after his landfill Mama's heart!)

Beer Can Mustang

Make Your Own Rubik's Cube

Have You Seen My New Office at the Landfill?

JUST KIDDING!

Hospitals Banning Crocs

GASP! Love me some Crocs!

Crocs, the fashionable plastic clogs, could be banned from all hospitals because it is feared they interfere with life-saving medical equipment.

The soles on the shoes are thought to generate static electricity which is strong enough to knock out respirators and machines in operating rooms.

They are now expected to be banned from the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS trust in South Yorks, and other hospitals are set to follow suit.

The move comes after a hospital in Sweden reported malfunctions on respirators and other machines which they blamed on static electricity generated by the shoe.

In Memoriam: Luciano

AGH! I woke up about 3 a.m. today and heard the news about Luciano Pavarotti. My heart was broken. Despite his fondness for black hair dye late in life, I LOVED me so Luciano. I love to hear him sing, and how I would loved for him to sing to me! Can you imagine how lucky his wife was? (Yes, Anonymous, there is no method or madness to my tastes!)

My Guy

Sister and I both agree that this the most common way we see Winston - in our faces about to be kissed. Even though I have the skin of a troubled teen in this picture, I love this self-portrait that I took tonight. (Who knew? Acne at 40-something? What-ev!)

PS. I know. The studio is a WRECK. But as they say,"A creative mess is better than tidy idleness."

TRASHformations.com Open for Business

Most of you know that I've been working on this project for a while now, and the site is open for business today, as promised.

But it's not quite where I want it to be. I have a few design tweaks to make, and I'll be adding new products through the middle of the month.

Be part of my Beta group. Visit the site, play with it, tell me what you think. If something is difficult to navigate, let me know. Don't understand something? Need to know that, too. Any other constructive advise is welcome, PLEASE.

Death Sentence: The Movie

Okay, we went to see this movie today, mostly because it was filmed in our town, but I don't think I'd recommend it. It was neat seeing our city in a movie, but the movie was too violent and seemed a little ridiculous in places. I do love me some Kevin Bacon, but he looked so much older than the Footloose heartthrob, and his hair was dyed a strange color brown.

Interesting tidbit: The close ups of Kevin Bacon's hands aren't his hands. He has some thing about his real hands - maybe he bites his nails or something - and he always uses a hand stand-in. That role went to a local here in my very own zip code.

And another interesting thing. The only local person I saw credited was our police chief, who is now in hot water for letting one of the producers come to the scene of a real crime, amongst other things.

Another Fox Sighting!

I've taken a liking to the Rock of Love, a Flavor of Love reality-type show with Bret Michaels from Poison.

For those of you under 30, you might not know Poison. They were a hair band of the 80s and 90s. You know, "Every rose has its thorns."

Anyway, I didn't think any of the band members were hot waaaay back when, especially Bret Michaels, but now, I think he is H-O-T hot!

Rock of Love is on VH-1, so Roxanne, you might have to check it out on the web!

What a Fox!

After practically everyone in Forest Acres has had at least five sightings of the grey foxes, Sister and I finally saw one on our bunny hunt this evening!

It wasn't what I expected at all. It looked like a big grey cat, but walked more like a dog. It was almost dark, so the dogs didn't see it - THANK GOODNESS. Cebu would've jumped out the window like the time we all saw the Bunny Nascar race.

The strange thing is that Mom says they always see them around 8:20 p.m. When we saw ours, it was 8:19 p.m., on the dot. Wild!