The garage of the house we rent is a converted room, the back half holds our laundry facilities and a door + screen door leads to the backyard. One night, Matt and I were doing something near the laundry when we saw out the screen door the most amazing sight. There, not four feet in front of us (and illuminated by the back porch light) an owl perched on our garden bench. It was the Eastern Screeching Owl and we stood there in awe. The little guy was so small and cute and his eyes looked so intelligent and nice (not quite the frown in this picture). And then he flew away. We hope his home is around somewhere because we rather like him. Plus, I hear he’s good at killing mice. :D This isn’t our first backyard surprise. The day we looked at the house to rent, a huge wild turkey walked by in the alleyway! Strangely, we haven’t seen it since. The day my sister was giving birth, our dogs chased an albino raccoon up a nearby tree. From a distance it looked like a white cat, but when we investigated, we discovered otherwise. I must say, it was the freakiest looking thing I’ve ever seen. A couple of times, we have noticed a skunk living under a shed three doors down (thankfully it stays away from us, probably on account of the dogs). These wildlife sightings, complete with the neighbor’s rooster crowing at 5am, makes us feel like we’re in the country. We are, in fact, smack in the middle of a city, next to countless title loan places and “beer and wine” stores that don’t sell good beer (that tells you something!). We’re also in a part of town where no one bothers to enforce city codes, such as not being allowed to have a rooster :D. But that’s okay, because frankly, we want to be in the country and since we can’t yet, we’ll happily embrace the strange wonderfulness that is our little slice of geography. And look forward to the next backyard surprise.
