Today while driving through the National Cement Plant on the way to one of our remote sites I saw a group of animals making their way across the road. I saw the way they moved was un-squirrel-like despite a somewhat similar build and said "Those are weasels!" It was a mother weasel and about 5 kits. We stopped so I could take pictures and unfortunately two of the kits ran away from the others, across the 5 lane wide dirt road the giant Tonka trucks use (it's a quarry in addition to the cement plant) and went under our truck.

I wasn't about to let us drive away without making sure the noodles were safe and when I got out I found one climbing into the hub of the rear passenger side tire. I managed to get it out of there with a hammer handle and this noodle was weirdly tame, walking right up to us. I wasn't able to shoo it away as it seemed drawn to the shade under the truck. In Alaska, when I had ferrets, I found that if I took them outside they immediately wanted to hide under stuff. I think noodles are naturally scared of open areas because of birds of prey.

This was an unfortunate situation since I couldn't see the mother and the other kits any more. My co-worker had leather gloves in his truck so I picked up this noodle and carried him to the side of the road where the others went. I left him there and went to look for the other noodle. There was a snarling noise coming from the truck and when I lay on the dirt I found the second noodle perched atop the rear axle snarling and snapping at me. The first noodle was weirdly tame and made no effort to bite me, but this one was different. I was able to chase him out from under the truck and he ran over to the opposite side of the road from the first one.

I didn't like to leave them separated but this second one was very wary and I didn't want to chase him toward the truck again. So we got in the truck and left. My hope is the mother came back and collected them. A little Googling established that these are long tailed weasels, yet another species I had no idea lived around here. Thios happened off Highway 138 at the extreme west end of the Antelope Valley. I would have been less surprised to see a mountain lion or badger.

The first noodle was super, super cute and seemingly tame but the best thing to do was leave it for the mother to hopefully find. I did get to hold him briefly, at least. What a cute little guy.