animals!

I saw an extra lot of animals last week because I got to visit my brother, who lives about 100 miles away, and to get to him, I drive through the countryside. This is a list of the animals I saw, just last week.

5 groups of deer! When it's warm and damp here, thick layers of fog form over the asphalt as high as the tree's leaf line, especially near the lakes and in dips in the road. I can see why people associate this area with pirates. Often in the midst of the fog, deer eyes would turn toward my headlights, and then necks and bodies emerge as I get closer. No deer were in the road this time.

A wolf. After I got out of the country, I passed into a desolate warehouse area of one of the abandoned downtowns near me. A tall, lean creature was loping along out of town, heading right for those deer I had passed 20 miles back. He was big and grey, moving quickly in the street on the other side. I thought he might be a coyote, but Josh says wolves are the tall ones.

a little brown bunny, bouncing through my backyard.

Hawks. I see these every day, and I think we have a hawk nest in our backyard. They have big beautiful wingspans that stand out in the bright sky. They cut way down on the usual backyard vermin. I had no idea this would delight Jesse like it does, but it's unusual to see a squirrel here, and we've yet to see a pigeon. Pigeons in Watertown can get together and rip off gutters and tear into roofs!

A gray blue crane. We have seen these at the lakes nearby, but this one was at my house! I face a large window while I work, and one afternoon a huge shadow passed in front, covering the whole window, about 5 feet from me. I looked up and saw the edge of a blue wing, so I ran out to the deck. The lake crane flew up very slowly and lighted on our neighbor's roof. These have the long, curved necks.

When I went out to get the mail today, it was warmer outside than in! I saw these flowers at my next- door neighbor's house -- spring has sprung!