Living In the Country

I grew up in town. Sure, it was a small town, but my Mom grew up in New York City. We went there for family vacations. I feel at home in an urban setting - - either small town or large metropolis.

But Dear Mr. Dizzy and I live in a rural setting. Thankfully, we live only 5 minutes from "civilization" - - work, restaurants, the Mall, so it's bearable for me. I'm not a country lass; I'm a city girl. This close proximity to actual people and places and "things" keeps me sane and happy. (Well, being married to the fine Mr. Dizzy doesn't hurt, either.)

But, one of the things I actually DO like about living in a country setting? Little surprises of nature. And some not-so-little surprises of nature - - such as the time I counted a herd of 16 deer roaming in our back yard late one night.

But THIS little surprise greeted us this evening:




NOTE: This is NOT a picture of the actual owl that was there. I could not get outside and close enough to get a shot of it. Clip art copyrighted by photographer:  Anguskirk, license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

That bad boy was HUGE, standing proud on one of our fenceposts, surveying the cornfield, hunting for his dinner. And from the times we saw him suddenly fly down from the fencepost to the ground, he was pretty successful. I'm sure he has a full tummy tonight.

It was a nice, calming thing to watch after an extremely hectic day at the office, ducking the flying monkeys and side-stepping the clown cars......