yesterday was a beautiful fall day. slight nip in the air, but not too bad. the morning started out cloudy, but by afternoon, the sun was shining through puffy clouds highlighting the oranges and yellows of changing leaves.

we have a lot of wooded areas on the property, and so we have a lot of squirrels. one little guy lives out back of our new place, and he is such a tease to sergei the husky, zipping here and there past the dining room window as if to say, "you're in there, and i'm out here...catch me if you can."

last fall, the iceback and i were in our bedroom upstairs, watching t.v. when all of a sudden, a squirrel landed on the window screen. we watched with fascination as he carefully scaled his way over the the ajoining rooftop. he ran up the edge, stop, look down and backed up. another squirrel was in the tree branch about three to four feet from the roof. the tree squirrel would chatter, and the roof squirrel would run up the edge, stop and chatter back. this went on for a good two minutes. finally the tree squirrel jumped and landed on the roof. more chatter from both, until the roof squirrel ran to the edge and jumped, landing in the tree branch. the tree squirrel then jumped after him. the iceback and i laughed, and clapped at nature's show.

so yesterday, i was waiting for crazy rudy ("why am i so crazy? cause my father touched me as little boy, and so i'm passing the savings along to you") from a "we buy junk cars" place to show up and haul my hoopty away (that in and of itself is another story for another day). when we moved we left it at the old place (its been there more than three months)

and so i waited on the sidewalk, at the end of the row of our old place. as i stood there, two squirrels played, and one chased the other around in circles on the ground. in short time, they moved to the large, old oak tree on the children's playground. that oak provides them with so many acorns. they liter the ground underneath and i always think how fat those little guys will be by winter.

one squirrel hopped on the tree and the other followed suit. he began chasing the other squirrel up the trunk in a spiral fashion. they went round and round until they disappeared from view.

this is a great place to live, with all its nature. and the squirrels are so accustomed to seeing people, that humans can get pretty close to them.

we also have a hawk that lives beside us and he often sits in the tree two hundred yards from our patio. i've tried to snap shots of him, but he's a little too far for my zoom, and too much movement causes him to fly away. sometimes he sits high on the rooftop of the neighboring building, surveying the potential prey around him. it's neat, to watch him fly and glide through the air. he's cheap but fascinating entertainment.

i love this place, i do. and i will miss it terribly.