Sunday, July 22, 2012

Neighbors from Nature

Our property is surrounded by woods (and some seasonal wetlands... LOL!! swamp). We are in a neighborhood but kind of tucked behind everyone else!

It makes for a peaceful place;) Lots of space for the kids to run! And slowly we are starting to see more little nature friends emerge from the woods.

We brought with us these two critters:)

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BTW... I was told by a friend that cats could try to get back home when they are moved to a new home. I did a little Googling and came up with a plan to keep them in their little crates when we weren't playing with them for a couple of days. I knew the cats would HATE it, but if it would keep them from traveling down the highway:/

The plans changed though once we got to the property. The kids traveled with Grandma and GRanddaddy with the cats. And once they got to the new house they let them out of the crates!! And they stuck around!! The kids showered love on them, kept them happily fed and they got plenty of attention every time we went outside...

and they stuck around;)Although Collar has scared us with his "adventures" that keep him away from the hours for hours... he always returns ready for Lydia snuggles;)

At the parsonage we had huge horse flies.... gigantic man-eating (or at least man-biting) ones. But here near the swamp the most common bug besides gnats and grasshoppers are these...
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dragonflies:) I hear they eat mosquitoes:)

As far as reptiles go... it's been a slow snake year.... thank goodness!!!! With all the rain we'd had TONS of frogs! In fact at night it sounds like the "plague" outside! But we were all delighted when Daddy found this guy...
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Our most exciting nature neighbors, besides the owl (we have heard but not seen yet) and the hawk & egret(some have briefly sighted), we saw one evening through the window.
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We had seen their prints in the sand when the foundation was laid and in the freshly moved dirt after the septic tank was put in. But we were soo very excited they returned when we could watch them in semi-whispered conversation about how beautiful they were:) And if we should call one "Bambi"!!

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It was crazy, but it seemed like they were watching us, too!
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It's been too long since I publicly shared my gift counting. Maybe it's a sign that's been neglected in my heart, too, or just a busy season of non-blogging.... honestly, a little of both! :( Thankfully, it's always a great time to start;)

371. nature sounds
372. power and beauty of the visiting deer (our Creator knows beauty)
373. memories of trying to quietly watch the deer through the panes
374. Nate running through aisles with a handful of blown up helium balloons... giggling:)
375. acceptance
376. bedtime stories in bed
377. summer visits with friends
378. VBS songs
379. the giving hearts of children
380. provision - more than we require, given when we need it
381. crazy 8s and Uno with the kids:) - summer boredom busters;)
382. ceiling fans
383. the faithful from the past
384. summer berries
385. toddler cuddles
386. kitty running to the kids
387. chasing frogs
388. playing in the rain

1 comment:

Jenny said...

How wonderful!

My husband and I have been discussing getting a deck off the kitchen (currently there's a door to a 2 story drop!). I realized I don't want one to block my view. I love looking out in the yard at dinner and seeing the deer or turkeys or chipmunks or whatever. We've even had baby deer just born in our yard. If we got a deck, we'd miss it all. We'd be looking out at wood and other junk my husband would put on the deck. LOL!

Anyway, I just love the pics. The cats are adorable and I'm so glad they decided to stay :)