LOCAL WILDLIFE & MORE
We don't feel like we're out in the country, so it has surprised us to see so much wildlife. There are a lot of grassy fields around but no cornfields near us.
*On one of his walks, Dave got a picture of eaglets in a nest down by the river. They hatched about the time we got here. If you look closely, you can see the second eaglet's beak to the right of the mother's shoulder.
*A couple of days ago there were two geese proudly marching alongside the highway with their goslings. So cute! A few days later there was some sort of territorial dispute around our house with ganders. We could safely watch from inside, but we didn't dare go out to get a picture or to go anywhere--they surrounded our house, even out onto the road. They were really going at it, hissing, honking, charging. Never saw a female.
*Birds of all sorts, some like at home (sparrows, crows, and lots of very red robins), as well as birds we rarely see, like orioles, blue jays, even a red-headded woodpecker--that one started as a red blob in the grass and then flew into a tree. Welcome to the neighboorhood, Woody!
*Spiders and the occasional cricket feel very comfortable coming into our home.
*A few deer wander by, but usually only after dark. The same for racoons.
*We've seen some cute little bunnies around "The Flats" (what they call the area where we live with all the pioneer houses and historical sites). Several times Dave has seen one quickly disappear into the small culvert under our front sidewalk.
*Squirrels, of course. Lots of squirrels.
*We're wondering what the previous missionaries did to encourage so many spiders.
*Fireflies have just started making an appearance in the last few days. Arline has fond memories of watching fireflies when she was a kid and is just as fascinated by them now.
*Someone saw a groundhog--in a tree!
*Possums
*And spiders, spiders, and more spiders. But no mosquitoes or chiggers yet.
(For those of you who aren't aware, Arline's philosphy on spiders is that outside they're fine. That's where they belong and she doesn't bother them there and they don't bother her. But if they come into our home, they've expressed a death wish--they've entered our territory and it's well within our right to kill them. And we do with abandon whenever we see them. We've never had more than six in one day. Fortunately, most days they aren't quite that prolific and some days not at all, but we see them inside more than we're used to. At least until we see them, and then they're history.)
Because it rained quite a bit this spring, the grounds crew couldn't mow the lawn for a while and the grass and dandilions got quite long. After a rainstorm, a squirrel was creeping through the grass and once in a while would jump over a patch of long grass and then creep again. There were also lots of crows pecking in the grass after the rain. One flew down and landed near where the squirrel was hidden. A minute later, the squirrel jumped and both the bird and critter startled each other. The squirrel did a black flip to get away!
Not exactly animals, but not quite human--some people around here have done fairy houses in trees. Here are two Dave has seen on his walks.
Finally, our neighbor sent this to us of our building--it's what we wake up to in the mornings:
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