Wild Life and Wildlife

Oh, holy goodness, peeps.

First off, let me say that it’s only Monday, and it feels like I’ve already lived a much longer week.

Second, 4th of July is just around the corner, which means the summer is half over, and just...how???

And third, I have a handful of catchup posts I really want to get to this week, and I’m going to try my very best. And, it was Monday, Science FUN Day today, so I really should be sharing that li’l tidbit right now.

But I’m gonna go rogue and instead talk about this wild ride called life.

This wild sort of life that is happening right now. 

The wildness of life in the world at the moment.

And then...I’m gonna talk about wildlife.

M’kay???

M’kay.

So.

Wild life. 

It really can’t get any wilder (well, it totally can, but let’s not imagine that scenario right now), than getting this emergency text on your phone in the same manner you would a tornado alert:

And that’s pretty much the state of things right now in our city. 

And it’s just so crazy, because only two weeks ago, I was thinking I was behind the average curve in getting out and about and more comfortable in the world again. And I felt like I was lagging, or being over-cautious. 

And now, two weeks later, we’re being advised to sit tight again and the positive momentum seems to be shifting backward, very swiftly.

I mean, the hubby was just directed to return to working from home 100% instead of coming into the office on Mondays and Wednesdays, as he had been for the past six weeks.

And on top of all of that, we’re currently in the midst of getting some early information about what the school year will look like, and just how in the world are we supposed to process all of it and make a decision for something that is about six weeks out, when things are changing so drastically within just six days???

Again...wild life.

And a bit overwhelming at times.

And honestly, I had a bit of a hard time a couple of days last week just trying to sort though all of my emotions about it all.

But luckily, I’m eternally blessed (in SO MANY WAYS) with three, rambunctious kiddos who keep me on my toes and present instead of in the weeds of my brain, so I want to take a moment to talk about one of the major joys of our life these days: our wildlife sightings!

In all seriousness, I don’t think we will ever live on a property quite like the one we currently have. With about an acre, and a two tiered back yard—the lower tier being completely wild and unkept for now, and backing up to the very start of a nature preserve—we’ve got a decent chunk of land to keep an eye on.

And, man, have we had some crazy sightings.

First up: we have a silver fox friend that’s been around for a couple of months. We’ve seen him at all times of the day, sometimes by our pool, and often, down in the second tier of the yard...

But yesterday, the hubby discovered we actually have a whole, dang fox family! At least a Mama and three babies (maybe more like toddlers) that we got to watch frolic about for awhile. I mean...so cool.







This is a shot from another day of one fox, that seems to be a bit more silver, so we kind of wonder if he might be the daddy. I really, really hope we’re not wrong and that he’s a coyote and we can’t tell the difference from afar. Yikes. Still looks foxy to me.



Now.

Speaking of yikes.

HOLY FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THE FOUR LETTER WORDS, we had the most TERRIFYING INCIDENT IN THE WORLD last Friday. When the hubby opened a cabinet in the kitchen for an oven mitt, and out flung (slithered??) a Texas red-headed CENTIPEDE that was about TEN INCHES LONG, and fast as a mother, and scared the EVER-LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF ALL OF US.

For reference, here’s a google image of what one of these nasty, venomous guys looks like, and it will give you nightmares:



And here it is, in our trash can, folded in half, after the hubby had to chase it down and whack it FAR TOO MANY TIMES to dispose of it.

I mean...truly. MOTHER LOVING TERRIFYING!!!!!!

Chica and I were up on our kitchen chairs screaming. Little Man was SCREAMING and sobbing and ran from the kitchen to barricade himself in the guest bedroom. And the only tiny, minor blessing was the fact that Chicklet was upstairs. And it was a blessing because she had a powder bathroom scorpion run-in last month and STILL won’t go to the restroom without a security sweep and a guard standing watch.

So..:if you’re keeping track: we have a family of foxes, a Texas, red-headed CENTIPEDE, four scorpion sightings in the past couple of months, and millipedes that we continue to battle. (And, YES, we have a pest service that has been here frequently to treat the property. Lot o’ good it’s doing, right??)

I MEAN, WHERE THE HECK AM I LIVING????

Additionally, Little Man and I had a pretty scary armadillo experience last Fall, when one scared the bejeezes out of us when he went running for a shrub just about ten feet away from us as we were having brunch out by the pool.

Holy. Wildlife.

(On a related note: none of my siblings seem to want to visit for the holidays anymore. Why is that?? Why???)

Now, let’s talk about some of the nicer creatures, like these little guys that we find everywhere:

Or the hummingbirds we’ve seen a lot by some of the flowering shrubs near the pool. 

I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s good with the bad, and I adore looking out the windows with the kiddos to see what we can find. I just cross my fingers that is something friendly!







And you can’t get any friendlier than the happy deer—a pair of them, lately—that took an afternoon nap in the second tier of the backyard a few days ago, much to the kiddos’ delight. :)



My enthusiastic little creature-lovers have gotten a lot of joy out of their nature-watching time, of late. And they wouldn’t have had that devoted time without the wild life that is going on right now in the world.

So we’re just going to keep taking one day at a time, the good and happy with the stressful and anxious.

And hope for more hummingbird days than centipede ones, if you know what I’m saying.

Happy Monday, peeps.

Over and out.