Look at what was in our yard

Doug had got onto Amber (our dog) for digging in the yard. While Doug was home working last week, he spied a visitor. It's a groundhog that we think lives in the neighbors backyard behind our yard.

For living in a suburban neighborhood we sure see a lot of wildlife. When we lived in GA, we saw lots of interesting creatures. That was to be expected, I thought, since our home backed up to a wooded area and was near a small lake.

This summer we have seen interesting birds. Every once in a while we'll see the Cooper's Hawk come to our feeder and catch a meal. Although we have not seen hummingbirds this year. Last year they were in abundance at our next door neighbor's house. We saw a large numbers of rabbits this year. Doug captured Monarch Butterflies on film.

One year we had a little ground squirrel eating at our bird feeder. We have also heard screech owls at night. They have a very distinctive sound. It sounds like the whinny of a horse. Several years ago while out walking Amber in the evening, Doug and I saw a screech owl perched atop the stop sign in our neighborhood. Early this summer I heard the screech owls but never saw them.

The most amazing animal siting this summer was witnessed by our neighbor. He saw a deer in our backyard. Yes, a deer!! We had an early morning thunderstorm. This kept Amber inside and Doug in bed a little longer than usual. We think the lack of Amber in the backyard helped in creating a friendly environment for the deer to feed. Then a clap of thunder sent it leaping over the fence, through a few yards and across the street. Later that morning our neighbor told us there had been a deer in our flower garden. Sure enough there were deer prints in the soil.