Um...You Won't Believe This....AGAIN!!

I slept in this morning. To 7:30! It felt like 10 am after waking up before the sun more times than not this past week. Truth be told, I woke up more groggy today! Maybe I just felt more groggy because Court was awake too and firing off questions before I'd had a chance to drink my coffee. (The good thing about an early wake up? -You have lots of time to wake up - in silence! haha!!)

Grace and Charlotte woke up just minutes later and we were getting ready to have "family breakfast!" Family breakfasts are special because they mean three things: 1) Daddy is not working, 2) We are all at home and 3) DONUTS!!! It's Court's special treat with the girls. He takes them to the store, let's them pick out whatever they want...so you can imagine how excited Grace was!

On my second sip of coffee, I heard the flapping of wings. Immediately, I thought Kiwi had flown 'the coop' and had landed somewhere in the living room. When I looked in the direction of the sound, I could tell by the look on Grace's face that it was not Kiwi!

I ran out to the living room and there on the floor was a DUCK!! As soon as I saw the duck, Lucky, our fierce, fluff ball of a dog, saw it too. At that point, I screamed because that's all we need is a duck death in our living room - in front of our girls!

Court, hearing me scream, ran out from wherever he was on level 10,000 on a scale of 1-10. Grace and Charlotte ran into our bedroom as Court and I tried to get the dogs. The dogs, of course, wouldn't listen, so Court ended up grabbing Lindey and launching her in my direction. At this point, he still didn't know why we were all panicking so his adrenaline gave him Herculean strength. I think he thought it was the owl again!

Only after the girls and the dogs were safely nestled in the back bedroom did he figure out it was just a duck! But seriously!?!?!? A duck? In our house? 

Look in the way back...the duck is in the fireplace.

We think that is how he got in. 

Rest assured, he was safely released. Court has had practice at this sorta thing! haha!!

Regardless, what is with all of feathered friends getting into our house?

Whoever lives in this house next is going to be in for all sorts of surprises!!

Look Hoo's Back!

You may recall our run in with an owl - in our living room - last year. You might also recall how that same owl raised a nest of baby owls in a tree right outside our living room window. Read about it here and here. It was amazing. I enjoyed every second of watching them peak out of their hole and cautiously and clumsily take to flight.

Then, just like that, they were gone. Grown up and gone and we were empty nesters. Literally.

My evening owl entertainment left a void in my evening repertoire. Even knowing that the owls wouldn't be there, I'd check every once in a while just in case.

So imagine my surprise when I posted up on the couch Tuesday night to fold heaps of laundry and relax in front of the 'boob tube'. Court was at a dinner meeting, the girls were asleep so I was settling in for some me time. Just me, the laundry and the ...and just like last time, I could feel the eyes upon me. I swear I knew she was there even before I looked up. She met my stare with confidence - unblinking - and for the second time in just days, I cried.

The owl - other than bringing the girls home and watching them grow - has been one of my most cherished memories of this house and I wanted to see her one more time before we moved.

Yes, you are reading that correctly. We are moving - soon - though I don't know exactly when. There are still a lot of unknowns and variables. The good news is we know where! More on all that when the time is right...and I actually know something.

The move is bittersweet. The main thing the move does for us is that it gets the girls in a better school district. It also puts us closer to Court's office thus shortening his commute. The down side is we are leaving the house that was our first home. We lived in a house prior to this one but it wasn't a home. There's a difference ya know. This is where the girls came home from the hospital, where we endured sleepless nights and 18 months of all-day pregnancy sickness. It's where we hosted family gatherings and where I cooked my first Thanksgiving meal. It's where we lit off firecrackers three weeks post 4th of July and where we roasted marshmallows with friends in the driveway. It's where the girls learned to crawl, walk, swim and ride bikes. It's the only home Grace and Charlotte have ever known.

While this is the only house Grace and Charlotte have ever known, they aren't the only children to be raised in this house. Court's father, uncle and aunt all grew up here. This house has been inhabited by a family member for 63 years and upon our departure, the tenure ends. *Sigh.* Like I said, bittersweet.

But life is ever changing and change, whether difficult or waited for with baited breath, is good. I look forward to our new house and the process of making that place our home. (The girls and I have been listening to Phillip Phillips a lot lately! 😜)

So seeing the owl flooded me with a lot of emotions. We quietly sat and watched each other for quite sometime - although I wonder if she wasn't watching the muted tv screen glowing behind me. She couldn't have been that transfixed on me.

Then again, perhaps she came to say goodbye. To give a nod of thanks for rescuing her from the chimney and in turn saving the lives of her owlets. (I checked. The proper term for a baby owl.) For she has not returned since Tuesday. Every night, I check and wait. I'm content that even if I don't see her again before our transplant we had one final moment. One final goodbye. Truth be told, I'll be looking for her every night even after we move. 

Owl and Friends

So as I was saying, it was dusk. Mr. Owl started flapping his wings at the entrance of his hole. We figured he would take to flight and that would be that!

After a few minutes of flapping, he started climbing up the tree using his beak and talons to dig into the side of tree. About four feet above the entrance to his "house", there is a flat area. I like to call it the launch pad. After reaching the launch pad, he sat there a few more minutes, limbering up his wings. Suddenly, he threw himself into the air and hopped/flopped to the neighboring tree. It looked anything but graceful. In fact, it almost looked as if this little guy was learning to fly!

Definitely couldn't be "our" owl! The owl that wound up in our living room last week, when finally given the chance to fly away, soared quickly, confidently - like he'd been doing it for some time. We watched our new friend hop, flop and flap from branch to branch and limb to limb. He was definitely a newbie!

For some reason, I looked back at the hole and what do I see? Another owl climbing out of the hole and up to the launch pad! TWO OWLS!! From the launch pad, owl number two launched himself into the neighboring tree and followed the route of his "hole-mate"through the branches.

We are mesmerized by the owls! Giddy with excitement that we have "National Geographic" going on outside our living room window. There may have even been a discussion about acquiring some sort of night vision camera! Again, let me reiterate, we were excited! So excited that we almost missed the THIRD owl scampering out of the hole and up to the launch pad!

Charlotte was fast asleep at this point and in all of our excitement, we must have alerted Grace - in her room - that something was going on. She sauntered out to join us and we quickly pointed out the three owls to her! We all watched them bounce around in the trees for quite some time.

Feeling pretty lucky that we had three owls in our backyard, you can imagine our great surprise when a fourth owl crawled out of the hole and joined his brothers and sisters frolicking in the night. Four owls! Woo hoo!!

Just as we think things are winding down for the evening, the owls being harder and harder to track as the sky gets darker and darker, another owl pops out of the hole! FIVE OWLS!

We have five owl friends making their home in our backyard! Just another reason, we love living in the country!

In the mornings, when we wake up, one of the owls is always in the entrance of the hole - "standing guard." He always makes eye contact with me as I watch, drinking my coffee.

Throughout the day, there is usually an owl at the entrance...but over the last fews days I've noticed that by lunchtime - and throughout the afternoon - all the owls tuck themselves far and away inside their cavern of a hole. Only after dinner, do they start appearing again!

We have yet to see them all venture out of their hole again. Not because they aren't venturing out but because we've gone to bed before they start shaking and baking for the evening!

So anyway, that is our exciting late-breaking owl news! I plan on doing a lot of owl watching and I plan on doing a thorough search of Barn Owls on Google! I'll keep you posted!

You'll Never Believe It: The Follow Up

Folding laundry over the weekend, something keep catching my eye outside. 

Outside the window where I was folding clothes are several large trees FULL of birds. I figured some little bird was flitting by or something. 

The trees are really spectacular. One of my favorite things about our house actually. Large and full of knobby branches and holes like the this one...where you imagine an old wise owl to live. 

Upon a closer look into the trees, I saw what had originally caught my eye.

Do you see it?

Yep, our little friend from Friday morning!

Alive and well in the tree outside our living room window. 

Charlotte was napping when I made this discovery so I showed only Grace. We proceeded to watch and photograph Mr. Owl for the next hour!

Upon Court's arrival home later that day, we showed him. All evening we kept checking on the owl and he was still there. Clearly as curious about us as we are about him!

At dusk, we REALLY tuned in to watch the owl. Owls being nocturnal and all we thought we might get a glimpse of him taking to flight!

You didn't believe what we woke up to last week, you'll never believe what we watched unfold Saturday night!

Come back tomorrow and I will fill you in!