Wild Animals

Around the time we moved into the parsonage we were told about all of the wild animals that one could see in the area, or in the town, or even, in one memorable case, in our neighbour's yard.  Apparently deer were all over the place, and various birds, and bears and raccoon and coyote; the apple tree next door had a bear come visit it in the fall, and we were warned about letting our cats outside.  I was pretty excited, I have to admit, to hear stories like that - not that I have any desire to see a bear on my porch, but when a lady who lives one street over from me told me about an encounter with a coyote that she had on hers, I was pretty interested.  I mean, how neat!  How cool!  A COYOTE on your PORCH!  Or the woman who told me about a lynx in her backyard, or the family of baby skunks...

Therefore, I dutifully wake up every morning, and this has become a habit now, I look outside my bedroom window for animals.  Well, we've lived here almost two years now and I have never seen a thing.  Birds, sure, even cool birds, and squirrels and chipmunks.  I've seen the wreckage of *something* getting into my garbage and my compost, so I'm assuming that's the raccoon, and in the winter I've seen rabbit tracks and something larger with paws, maybe also that elusive raccoon, who knows, but as for big, elusive, cool animals...never in the yard or around town.

Now, I have seen deer and wild turkey and eagles and such driving along the highway.  And last fall we saw a black bear and this spring something that I think was a coyote, but it was moving very fast.  The cats bring me mice and birds and once, a mole with it's strange little nose, but I keep peering out at the apple tree in the fall, waiting for the bear.