A Backyard Story

Can you find him??

This lower picture isn't part of my story - just wanted to try putting in images. This is a sunset pic taken in Iowa at the Amana Colonies. It was so beautiful.

Now to my story. When I lived in Maine I lived in the woods amongst big pine trees. We had living creatures all around - birds, squirrels, chipmunks, skunks, raccoons, porcupines, deer, moose, coyotes (and/or coy dogs) - you name it. We had them outside the house and inside the house - especially mice, squirrels and once a bat....oh no! I enjoyed living in the country. I liked the smell of the woods and the sap of the pines, but not on my car or the seat of my pants (which happened more often than you would think - who knew sitting at a picnic table.....).

Now I live in the city and a fairly big one at that. It is different, but I like it. I like it a lot. We live in a neighborhood on the eastern edge of the city, not so far away from cornfields and Kohl's - not bad. We have a nice backyard that backs up to a bike path, which used to be a railroad bed.

One would think that living in the city I wouldn't get a daily fix of nature or wildlife, but that is not the case. On our little patch, on any given day. I can see: squirrels running across the fence next door, many birds (my favorites, cardinals and chickadees - the Maine state bird), opossums (especially if we leave out the next door friendly kitty's bowl - who we leave snacks for) and little cottontail bunnies hopping all around. Once Larry even saw two deer right up the street on his way home from work in the early morning. And, this is something I hope I never see, but in a nearby city they have even seen a mountain lion. Wouldn't that be a sight walking down the bike path?

A few weeks ago Larry hollered to me - "come quick!" I didn't know what was up, so I rushed out worried. "There, there!" he pointed out in the backyard. "It's an owl!" He had seen a barn owl out there once and thought is was another one. On closer inspection from inside the sliding glass doors we decided it was a big hawk. He was sitting on a branch all puffed up like birds do when it is cold. He was a magnificent creature - very regal. We wanted to get a closer look, but didn't dare to open the sliding door, so we got out the camera, zoomed in and took pictures through the glass. He stayed there a long time and we enjoyed watching him and checking to see if he was still there.

I think about the animals and birds and know that we are slowly inexorably encroaching on their territory. It is sad that we are taking their space away. If I think about it too much it makes me cry - the rain forests and even the squirrel's nest that the bike path workers ruined when they took down that tree near our little patch (not a happy squirrel and here it is the dead of winter). It makes me think about being more careful and using resources wisely - going as green as we can.