So we've had the windows open for a week. And hence even if we wanted to sleep in--and today Mojo was a slugabed and slept in until 5:30, due to a stressful day yesterday--our feathered neighbors make sure we don't. First up is this fellow to the left: a pileated woodpecker. In addition to the very loud pecking--if they find a hollow tree they start to resemble a machine gun--the pileated has a very loud, alarming call similar to the sounds one hears in the movies when people are being chased by monsters in the jungle. All this noise comes from a fairly large bird, looks to be over a foot long. They are something to see, and to hear. BUT NOT AT FIVE IN THE MORNING.

Next, even with our windows closed we could not help but hear our residential ruffed grouse. Ruffed grouse don't really make too much in the way of calls, but they make up for it with their drumming, which permeates the entire house. They also enjoy hiding in the leaves and waiting until you are about to step on them before rocketing up in your face and flying off. These likewise are good-sized birds--they are related to chickens, although somewhat smaller--and I can't count the number of heart attacks they have given me.

And last, props to the freakin' turkeys again. It's mating season, so one cannot walk out to the car without wading through whole flocks of them. Just the other day I was ranging around the woods near the house, scouting for firewood to cut this summer, and I suddenly became aware of the footsteps of a Very Large Animal nearby in the leaves. That turned out to be a turkey hen, lurking about, all by herself. Another quarter mile and I realized I was being stalked by the male. Perhaps he was the one who decided life wasn't worth living unless he could GOBBLE AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS first thing in the morning the other day. This scared the dog, who mistook the gobbling for a Large Dog Eating Monster and wouldn't go out in the morning. So Mojo has the added bliss, after being awoken by this ungodly din, to have to argue with the dog as she freaks out. (It's a BIRD, you idiot! It's NOT going to HURT you!)

Why again do I live out here in the sticks? Some days I do wonder....

Mojo