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“A hawk!,” I thought.

January 3, 2011

It was the second day of the new year. Watching a football game at dusk, I noticed a large bird fly into a tree at the back edge of our yard. “A hawk!,” I thought.

Running upstairs, I got a much better look. What I saw didn’t resemble a hawk’s profile. The top of our china cabinet always holds a pair of 12 power binoculars. Taking a closer look, an owl!

We grabbed the new camera, a Christmas present from me to her, and attempted to catch a picture. The flash fired. Glare off the glass. How could I turn that off? A moment’s fiddling got it turned off.

On our lower level is a door to the patio. A good shot from that vantage point looked like a real possibility.

Walking out the door … luckily the motion detector didn’t kick on the flood lights … I was able to keep a tree trunk between me and that lovely bird.

I peered around the tree and squeezed off a picture. Zoomed in at 10x should give a nice look. The camera gives off a soft beep, just enough to attract the full and undivided attention of the owl.

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Enjoying the life of a lioness on the Serengeti

May 4, 2010

There are some pretty disappointed critters in our backyard today, I cut the grass. It has only been four weeks, but there was a lot of moisture, rain/storms, while we were gone.

Mother rabbit was hanging around most of each day with her ears visible in the tall grass. I’m thinking she was enjoying the life of a lioness on the Serengeti. Perhaps she wasn’t aware of an occasional coyote, nor did she look up much to be aware of the red tails in the neighborhood. Anyway, without the cover she’ll feel more vulnerable and go back to her predawn hours.

My many friends in the mole family have had their shenanigans revealed. Is there a four-wheel drive hand mower for those soft spots? It’s time to put out my I HAVE TRAPS! sign.

A treat of treats has been the baby chipmunks. In all these years, I had never seen a baby chipmunk. We have four! They are obviously honing their skills, exploring and doing some low-level climbing. One found a hole along the edge of a brick walk. It would disappear, come back out, disappear again. They found maple seeds interesting.

I remember when I saw my first chipmunk in Minneapolis. They always were in the north woods of Minnesota, but I didn’t see one in Minneapolis before the 70s. Now, seeing them in Saint Louis really seems odd to me.

Our late Schnauzer, Katie,  did a pretty good job of critter control, dragging a squealing mole out of the ground cover, finding baby rabbits fun to catch and kill. When she barfed up an entire mole on the family room floor, we found her willingness to share her spoils a little much.

The spot on the carpet is still there twenty years later. Oh, we clean at it and render it invisible. But it comes back,

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A stark beauty

January 24, 2008

There was a patch of sunshine on the floor of the guest bathroom, softened and silvered by its visit to the moon, trimmed to a square by the skylight, laced with the silhouette of a bare-branched golden rain tree. This time of year finds the nearly full moon overhead at bedtime, a stark beauty on a cold, clear night.

skylight-in-fall.jpg

Skylight with Rain Tree in the Fall

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