They're Baaaack....

We have an abundance of wildlife passing through our neighborhood, despite the fact that we are in the "city". We live across the street from a wooded park which affords us with ample opportunities to enjoy animals that would seem unusual for an established neighborhood. We have a pair of Barred Owls who nest in the park every year; this year we had a pair of Coopers Hawks nest there and I spent an afternoon watching the young'uns chasing each other through the trees while Mama waited and watched nearby. On occasion we have coyotes wander down he middle of the street, as well as deer. There is a family of skunks who have chosen our front yard as their "freeway" and they make a pass in the middle of the night about once a month and always, always, always stop somewhere very close to the open window in our bedroom which causes me to wake up in the middle of the night with my eyes burning and my nose screaming for relief...oh joy!

And...we have a family of raccoons who nest and raise their babies in a huge fir tree in our neighbor's yard. Raccoons have an interesting habit, they always "do their business" in the very same place, every day and that place is our backyard. We have tried numerous ways of discouraging them from doing this, with modest results. The best trick we have found so far is to lay down chicken wire and then cover it with branches...a pain to move every time we have to mow the lawn, but much more desirable than doing nothing.

This year they also discovered my bird bath and have taken to visiting it to wash in before they head to our other neighbor's yard to eat all the cherries in their cherry tree. Now imagine a diet rich in nothing but cherries and their daily visit to our backyard....you do the math! Yep, it's all part of the "grand design"! Annoying, but we wouldn't have it any other way.