Such a Great Day

Today started with a surprise:  Diva and I were driving a few blocks from my house and found a young couple enjoying the beautiful fall weather: 

 

We spent about half an hour watching and snapping pictures.  I'm very proud that Diva, at eight years old, has learned to appreciate and respect wildlife.  I will never forget witnessing a dumbass tourist in the Yukon Territory hop out of his car, walk right up to a wild black bear, snap a photo, then turn his back and return to his car.  I was taking video of the bears (zoomed in from a reasonable distance and the safety of our car) and thought sure I would be handing my vacation video over to the authorities after the mauling.  Diva knows that the wildlife is here, in the city, because of all the building going on in the hills.  She knows that wild animals, no matter how calm they appear, can turn on you in an instant, and that they deserve to be left alone.  We sat quietly in the car until they looked our way, then took the pictures.  We never even considered trailing them, feeding them, leaving the car, or trying to get their attention.   Our patience was well rewarded:

 

In case you're wondering, that's an office building in the background, and we were in a parking lot.   The camera I used for these photos is new as of yesterday, and I'm still learning how to use it. So far, I'm impressed with how easy it is to maneuver.  Some of the shots could be more clear, but I was using the zoom feature for the first time, so I expect I'll get better with time.  I'm just grateful to have had a camera with me. 

After our wild encounter, we hit the mall.  We found everything we need to transform the bathroom (on sale, plus the clerk gave us coupons - major score!) had lunch, picked up some school clothes for Diva from Macy's clearance rack, and grabbed Halloween candy for tomorrow, along with a jar of Walker's favorite salt & pepper cashews.  When we got home we carved Diva's jack o' lantern and settled in front of the TV.  Right now, Diva is sacked out in her bedroom, Walker is getting ready for work, and I'm feeling all relaxed and happy.  Life is good.

Wild Encounters

Not even 5 am and it's already been a busy morning! I was sitting at my desk logging some hours on my work at home job when I heard the most God-awful noise coming from the patio. Of course I had to check it out, and I was horrified to see a neighbor's cat holding a tiny baby bunny in his mouth. I yelled at the cat to "Put him down!" and for some reason, he did. The little bunny was only about four inches long and he hunkered down in the grass while I slipped onto the patio and chased the cat away. I slowly approached the bunny but didn't touch him. I was hoping he wasn't seriously hurt. He didn't appear to be bleeding or anything, and after a couple minutes he hopped off, hopefully back to the safety of his momma and his nest.

When I went back into the house my own kitty was acting agitated, which at first I thought was because of all the noise on the patio, but then I watched her pacing by the front door and went to that side of the house to take a look. Out on the lawn in the very first light of the day was a gorgeous doe. She saw me watching her and began to approach the house. I slowly backed away from the door and grabbed my camera, but just that quick she disappeared. One of these day's I'll learn to take the dang camera with me.

ETA: Not five minutes after I published this post the dang cat was back on my patio. I think the bunny is hiding under the steps, cause the cat was going nuts trying to get at something under there. I chased him away again, and the dopey thing ran straight across the street into a yard with four dogs. The racket was crazy. I have a feeling I'll be hearing from some neighbors today.