Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Our Texas Backyard

Our back yard has quite a view. The green belt backs to our home and at night we hear a choir of crickets and cicada. Here is the view.
A couple times late at night Kirk and I have heard a coyote howling in the distance. We have many sorts of critters and bugs. Thomas and Jonah love the "potato" bugs or "rolly pollie ollies". They collect them in cups and boxes - but I insist they can't come in! I've never seen so many spiders so close together (all in my backyard). There are blue birds and woodpeckers. A happy little squirrel had a great breakfast one morning on us. Nicholas threw out the trash but not into the can. And what was trash to us was not to the squirrel; a great rotten banana and a nice shriveled nectarine. Now if it could just help itself without chewing a hole in the trash bag and throwing the rest of the trash all over the backyard. It was just like another kid. Then there are the lizards all over that like to lie out in the sun. Sometimes green sometimes brown and they blow up their throats into a red balloon. Who can kill all the spiders when the lizards need something to eat?

The other night I heard something outside. Kirk listening to a book on CD didn’t hear it the first time. He decided to go outside and have a look. Two glowing eyes stared at him and then he saw it, a raccoon. It’d been in the trash can that was knocked over now. The raccoon ran for the back fence full speed. We have a screen about two feet high at the bottom of our wrought iron fence. This round little raccoon just jumped right over that screened area and right through the bars. He didn’t bother to run any farther than that, sensing the fence meant security. He just sat and looked at Kirk. Critters!