Wild, Wild Life

A couple of nights ago, Christie and I were downstairs watching a movie after Wrig had gone to bed. Marble, who is feeling strangely cuddly lately, was keeping us company. We head a noise upstairs. Correction, we heard noises upstairs. Even Marble, fierce defender of the homestead, heard noises.

We finally go up to investigate. While still on the stairs, I hear a rattling, which sounds a bit like our dishwasher (which hasn't been feeling well). But no, Christie did not start the dishwasher. I continue up and into the living room, figuring that the fan is shuffling a few stray papers. Christie, who thought the rattling sounded like chomping, turned to the right, where we keep the back door and the cat food.

Quothe the noble Chrsitie: "Oh, eek. A possum."

Christie really did say "eek." She didn't screech "EEEEK!" like a fifties housewife, she simply said the word "eek."

The critter had, apparently, snuck into our house by squeezing under our screen door. While Christie was searching for a mop to defend herself with, the possum snuck right back out. Possums, by the way, are really ugly creatures.

On the other hand, this morning as I headed out to the back yard to do a little yard work, I was greeted by a hawk. We observed it closely until it decided to (quite majestically) glide away. Then we dashed inside to look at our bird book and figure out who our guest was.

Christie voted for the Cooper's Hawk:


Wrig voted for the Sharp-Shinned Hawk:


I think it was probably a Cooper's Hawk, but it's much more fun to say it was a Sharp-Shinned Hawk because Sharp-Shinned is such a cool name. I was hoping that the hawk was planning to defend our homestead from marauding possums, but it turns out both breeds of (closely related) hawk like to hang out by bird feeders and prey on songbirds.

Might I suggest, Mr. Hawk, that that blue jay over there looks quite tasty?