This house makes a lot of startling noises. It’s worse in the winter when it’s well below freezing, like it is today. It’s probably expansion and contraction of the wood frame with the temperature changes but it’s scary sometimes. I want to run outside to see what hit the house or who could be doing who knows what. I don’t because it’s futile. There is never anything to see.

Except for one time, a time when I didn’t look but maybe should have. Although it wouldn’t have helped much. There was a long plastic downspout to keep rain runoff from the roof away from the house. It was 5 or 6 feet long running over to a flower bed. I think the horrendous noise I heard was a large dog chasing a little rabbit. It was quite a while before I noticed he had destroyed the pipe.

I’m assuming it was a he, who else would be chasing a rabbit in a flat out run? Actually I think it would have been one of the neighbor’s dogs that probably got out. I have it on good authority that they are guys.

A few summers ago I met one of them when I was out weeding in the front yard. He was on his own out for a visit, checking out the neighborhood. It wasn’t too long before his owner came looking for him. I have no proof it was that dog on one of his evening adventures but having met him that day it was a pretty good possibility, in my mind anyway.

I like dogs but they can be a handful. I’m more of a cat person, they don’t seem to get into as much trouble as a large energetic dog.

Aside from rabbits, dogs, and squirrels running through the yard, one day we saw deer. I was surprised, or maybe a better word would be shocked. It had never occurred to me that they would be in this area. Now I wonder how many other visits I’ve missed. I would have missed this one too if my kids hadn’t been here and noticed first.

I need to pay more attention to what goes on in my yard. The trouble is I can’t read and look outside at the same time, and reading takes hours of concentration. At least in the winter I have a better idea about what goes on and when. Foot prints tell the story of visits and chases. Some days seem to be busier than others.

The wild animals seem to have a routine about who they visit in the neighborhood and when. I think it depends somewhat on their needs. Shelter, food. The animal residents vary from year to year too. Some years there were a large number of cats. They’d spend more time in the yard, lounging in the flower beds or on the back deck. Maybe there was safety in numbers and they were bolder. Right now there are few, maybe one of two. and they are more cautious, I rarely see them. The rabbit population has been smaller too. I hear the eagles like to hunt rabbits and cats. I’ve never seen them do it but my neighbor has. They swoop down and carry them off.

The only eating I’ve seen in the backyard is done by the crows. They like to eat the eggs out of the robin’s nests. Horrible birds.

I guess they do have their good uses though. One day a small bird flew into one of my windows and was lying dead on my deck. I was going to put the body in the garbage as I did once before for a bigger bird found lying in the garden. This time I decided to leave it there to see if nature would take it’s course. Finally after a few days went by there were crows out there eyeing the bird. They flew off but the next day I noticed the body was gone. That is how it should be. Crows are scavengers, clean up crews keeping the world a healthy place to live. Amazing isn’t it. Except eggs waiting to hatch don’t qualify as needing cleanup.

OK, I’m talked out. We will discuss books another time.

Maybe I will just share the cover of my current read with you, Well, there were two actually.

The first one is suspense and so was the last one finished. Something lighter was needed for a minute which meant the mystery needed to be put on hold. The romance was an excellent change of pace and is almost finished. It was a god decision, my mood is much lighter than it was before.

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Well, that conversation was a fun surprise. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

See you tomorrow.