Last night I was awoken by one of the worst sounds ever-- the zeeeeeeeeeeee!!! of a mosquito in my bedroom (zanzara in Italiano). Having already amassed 6 mosquito bites in 6 days, I wasn't anxious to collect more. So I hopped out of bed & grabbed our tennis racquet zapper (do we have these in the US? They work so well & give such a sense of satisfaction as you listen to the mosquito fry on the strings). In any case, all lights were flipped on as I tiptoed slowly about the room, awaiting the blood-sucker to come after me once more. She did, I zapped, she fried -- mosquitos: 6, Nicole: 1. A moment later I got back in bed & tried to fall back to sleep but as I started to fade I heard noises from my window, footsteps in the dried grass outside. I didn't panic too much as they weren't heavy, humanesque footsteps, but all the same I wondered what was out there. I walked quietly to the window, looked around & saw nothing-- surely there had to be something, I know I hadn't imagined the ruckus. I looked again & there was a small black cat, peering up at me, I said "hi kitty". No sooner did the words leave my mouth when the cat darted off & piercing the night air was a distinctive "snort!! snort!!" & a small, dark wild boar (cinghiale) trotted right past me. I watched him in disbelief as he disappeared into the orchard & thought I must have been imagining this until a second cinghiale trotted by, large chunk of something in his mouth, not more than 3 feet in front of me. I was giddy at seeing my first wild boars, we saw none during Italian Adventure, part I.
Having shared this exciting experience with our landlords, they said the cinghiale may be plentiful the next few nights as the pears have fallen from the trees & they grab their fill. Well, guess who's gonna be on the lookout tonight with camera in hand?? Sleep is overrated when there are wild boar to spy! #OnlyInToscana
PS We also see baby scorpions & a gecko on the floors & walls of our home. The gecko is big, spotted very rarely & last year Steph & Caiden named him "Bob". I am curious, however, if Bob is Bobbette as we have seen some baby geckos lately. I understand they eat mosquitos so we're 'living & let living' with these unexpected housemates.
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