Critters

We don't live in the country. Cheshire is a pretty dense suburban town. There is a field behind our back yard, but none other in the neighborhood. And people don't have large lots--this part of town was settled before zoning.

But we have lots of critters.

Bern saw a squirrel the other day in the yard she said 'was a big as a spider monkey'. I rather doubt that, but there are some big squirrels and lots of young ones around.

We have a colony or two of chipmunks in our yard. Some may be in our basement from time to time but mostly they live in an old wood pile that we haven't used for a few years since we need to reline our kitchen fire place. We sometimes smell a skunk and I've seen a racoon or two.

And there are several bunnies in the immediate area. One quite large.

And then there are the birds--more birds than I ever remember: wrens, swallows, tons of robins, mourning doves, cardinals, sparrows, a cow bird or two, blue jays, chickadees, crows aplenty and a golden hawk that lives in the very top of a tree two lots down and keeps an eye on the field and backyards. You can hear his cry throughout the day. And the occasional hummingbird since we have lots of red flowers.

And ground hogs--I shouldn't forget them--who live behind us and, in the fall, eat the berries just behind our back yard that have fermented and get drunker than skunks! Or, in this case, drunker than a ground hog should get.

I won't even go into the insects and worms and such.

Just a lot of creatures. I even saw what I thought was a coyote in the field behind our house and a red fox from time to time passes through.

Having grown up in a more rural place, I love the critters.