Thursday Thirteen – Lazy Writer Edition

November 5, 2009 on 11:19 am | In Elise, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

So, this morning I realized I hadn’t pre-written anything for today. Oops. I meant to. Really. But I had a busy week and I won’t bore you with the details.

I got this idea from other T-13 blogs that I’ve seen where the blogger lists things on their desk or things they can reach from their couch. But I wanted to give you a little taste of the weirdness of my backyard. So here it is: Thirteen random things- some weird, some not so weird -  in my backyard. Keeping in mind I live in suburbia.

1. Cats. Lots of cats. Big fat house cats, lean and frisky kittens, domestic cats of all colors and sizes. This is probably because we have lots of

2. Birds. A sampling of our bird population includes: chickadees, robins, cardinals, blue jays, wrens, hummingbirds, titmice, sparrows, doves, mockingbirds, blue birds, catbirds, finches (including goldfinch), and various migratory species. Oh. And woodpeckers – redheaded, red bellied, and downy woodpeckers. And occasionally a pileated.

3. Chipmunks. At last official count, I was sure I had three, because I have seen three together at once. I have seen, in previous years, as many as five. And let me tell you that there’s little as hysterical as watching chipmunks race around your yard in a fierce chipmunk fight for dominance.

4. Squirrels. I like squirrels, mostly. Except the one that evidently has pica and wants to chew on my house. Not chew THROUGH to get somewhere, just… nibbling on the edges of the siding. Weirdo.

5. Raccoons. They are usually either after the water in our heated bird dish (it’s often the only non-frozen water around in winter).

6. Opossums. Same deal – usually after the water.

7. Deer. We don’t see these often, but we find tracks often enough. The most memorable occasion for this is me walking out onto our back deck at around 2pm, looking over and staring into the startled face of a doe – one of three standing in my yard in the middle of the afternoon. That was odd.

8. Hawks. I didn’t include these with “birds” because they are usually hunting said birds. In winter, particularly, it can be rather spectacular when a red-tailed or red-shouldered swoops down and takes out a dove. So far as we can tell, we have red-tailed, red-shouldered, Coopers, and sharp-shinned hawks.

9. A bear. Yeah. A bear. It knocked down our biggest bird feeder and made a bit of a mess. The park service people came up from a (relatively) close state park and relocated the bear into the state park.

10. Turtles, mostly box turtles. For some reason, our yard is a turtle highway. The turtles just emerging from hibernation and those looking for a place to hibernate truck through our yard at (for turtles) breakneck speed. It’s like Turtle Talladega out there.

11. Ants. Lots and lots of ants. Golden ants, carpenter ants, sugar ants… you name it, we’ve got it. Okay, no fire ants, thank Heavens.

12. Butterflies, moths, dragonflies, mayflies – bugs. Just bugs. A lot of pretty bugs, but some not so pretty. We’ll get the luna moths which like our sweet gum trees, and they’re rather spectacular.

13. Bald eagle. Yeah, that one just gets me. Every time I see one, I get all gooshy and patriotic. So when I see one soaring over my house, well, that’s just all kinds of awesome.

There you go. So… what have you seen in your backyard?