Thanksgiving

Our New Backyard

When thinking about moving, Sam and I worried we would miss living in town - parks, sidewalks, walking to town, neighbors, etc. We do miss those things, but one of the bonuses we did not consider when buying the house is all of the wildlife. Since moving, we have seen: bunnies, Sand Hill cranes, lots of birds, woodchucks, deer, snakes, and a coyote.

The other day, I looked out our kitchen window and saw a pair of wild turkeys and their seven babies making their way across our yard. I called the kids and, of course, Owen missed them. Early the next day, I saw the family in the yard again. I called to Owen to look out of the window and heard all of the kids scramble to glass to see. The next thing I know I hear Sam saying, "hey, look there's a coyote under the tree". In the blink of an eye, the coyote bounded across the field to fill his belly with a bunny and give the kids a healthy serving of mother nature. He tried several times, but thank goodness he came up without anything. Before we knew it, the coyote leapt back to the other side of the yard, but this time he had hankering for turkey. We all stood at the window, holding our breath when.....relief -- all nine of those oven birds flew to safety in the hickory tree. Thankfully, our hungry coyote was not so wiley after all, but if he is anything like his cartoon counterpart he will be back. Let's just hope there's a gentle and humane section in the ACME catalog.