The Awe of Animals

I was reading a magazine last night while my husband and children were watching our beloved St. Louis Cardinals play baseball on TV.  My husband got up to do something and happen to look out the window to see a raccoon in our yard.  He turns and says, "Kids do you want to see a raccoon?  Come here quick."  So all three of my children bound off the couches and head over to the window.  Then my husband shuts the light off in the house...because you know the raccoon might see four people staring at him through a window.  So now I'm sitting in the dark trying to read a magazine as the rest of my family is ogling over a raccoon.

Okay we live in the timber in Iowa!  We see wildlife in our backyard daily and it still amazes me that my family treated the incident as if it was the first time they've seen a raccoon.  I mean is it just me, if you've seen one raccoon you've seen them all?  My husband is the same way with deer.  I'm trying to drive us somewhere and he'll be like, "Oh a deer. Stop, back up.  That was a nice one."  So I stop, back up, try to spot the deer again and after he's seen it we are one our way.  Apparently he also has the ability to tell deer apart.  He can tell you if that deer has been around these parts before or if it's a new deer.  He can also tell you if he's seen that particular deer before.  It really is amazing and comical at the same time.  It's as if the deer are friends.  It would be easier for me if he'd name them but then again, probably not a great idea to get the kids too attached to the deer that we may find dead on our roads.  Like I said, it's Iowa.

I love that my kids and husband love the wildlife and I love wildlife too. I guess I just don't need to stop the car for every deer I see or get off the couch for every raccoon that's in the yard.  Now if they see a bob cat or a mountain lion, a bear or a unicorn...now I'll stop the car or get off my butt to see that!!

"Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset?  And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet.  And also, you're drunk."  Jack Handy