Day 84 – Wildlife Porn



March 3, 2015


(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

Backyard wildlife
Lately with weather limiting many activities, I haven’t lacked for natural entertainment in our yard. A couple days ago, I followed deer tracks in our suburban backyard. I could see that the deer walked to our front yard and into the street toward our neighbor's house. Then it probably turned around and left our yard through the wooded area in back. I’ve seen fox and opossum and even heard a coyote in our yard. Birds flock to our feeders year round.

When we had a giant oak tree that our back deck was built around, squirrels were frequent visitors to our porch and often came to the glass door to stand on haunches and look into the kitchen. One year there was a silver squirrel that actually knocked on our door and would come to my husband’s call. Its appetite for peanuts was insatiable. Since the diseased oak tree had to be taken down, squirrels are no longer able to jump to the porch from its branches. They don’t seem to like the alternatives now—taking the steps or climbing the porch supports.

Sometimes the wildlife makes us smile, like when squirrels would look through the glass door, nose to nose with our lazy cat Misty who always calmly flicked her tail back and forth. The latest smile came from a naughty place in me (urged by husband, David). I found one of our daughters’ dolls with matted red hair, dirty face and one arm missing. I wasn’t ready to throw it away. Instead I put it outside on a table, covered it with birdseed, some stuck to the doll with peanut butter. Then I sat and waited for a squirrel who feasted on the doll in unmentionable places. I smiled and clicked the camera shutter.

My gift today was a wild smile.

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> DAY 85 Head Trip

You can read my other posts on this project here:

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