Life in the "wild"

We've had quite a bit of "wildlife" visiting us lately. The word, wildlife, makes me think of "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" even though I know the true definition works for what we saw too!

Thursday afternoon when I went to meet Robbie's bus for the last time this school year I found this little guy sitting on the driveway behind my van.

He wasn't trying to fly or walk. He looked like he was just trying to balance while squawking every once in a while. Katie said he was there when she came home 45 minutes earlier and he stayed there for quite awhile after Robbie got home. I looked outside later and saw he was on the sidewalk and an older kid and his dog were standing there staring at it. I don't think they had harmed it (the dog was just sitting looking around like he was bored) but something was wrong with the little guy. Robbie came in later saying the bird's eyes were closed and he was "sleeping". Mark later went outside to check it out when the kids were getting ready for bed. All I'm saying is that the bird was gone when the kids checked Friday morning and they think his mama came back for him.

Saturday afternoon I was sitting on the couch reading when I heard some rustling noises and then Daisy was at the window trying to stalk something through the screen.

This little one was jumping around inside the bush and when I took his picture then this one jumped out of the flower bed underneath the window.

This is the look I was getting from Daisy after I told her to be quiet and sit down and that no, she couldn't go chase our guests! I hope I don't fall down a well anytime soon because from that expression I think she'd leave me there!

About an hour later the tornado sirens went off startling everybody. It was still partly sunny near our house when they went off but from the looks on the tv it was all around us and one possible tornado was heading our way. I, of course, went outside to take pictures and watched the clouds move in like a scene from a ghostly movie. I thought of Ghostbusters. I watched one area get a little rotation off and on but thankfully nothing came of it in our neighborhood other than a freaked out 12 yo and an interrupted Penguin game on television!

This was the view out our back door as the different cloud banks were converging.

I need a tripod so the shots using the nighttime setting aren't blurry but this was the view down the street. This is the view that had me thinking of the giant Sta-Puff Marshamallow Man!