Return to the Wild!

Hello, friends!

In the midst of the various COVID-19 stay at home orders, a number of different news outlets have reported stories about wildlife returning to reclaim cities and towns. While a number of those stories are not exactly true , there still make for some fun and entertaining videos.

Here in the great city of Omaha, particularly around our house, we've had our own run ins with wildlife too. Just in the past week, here's what's happened.

- On Thursday, Megan found this spider next to our house:  The photo doesn't really do it justice but we're pretty sure it was around 2 inches long. 
















- On Friday, while I was working, I got a text from Megan that the neighbor dog dug under our fence and was running around our backyard. A different neighbor was able to get the dog back into her yard and Megan put a stone over the hole so I think we're OK. And yes, I know that dogs aren't really wild animals, but still!

- On Saturday, we realized that the swallows have returned for the season. There is a family of swallows that has decided that our outside lights are a perfect place for them to make their nest. They've been doing it since we moved here. The nest is annoying and the bird poop all over our porch isn't great, but the worst part is that the birds, after they lay their eggs, are very protective. They sit in a nearby tree, and if they think that someone or something is getting too close to their eggs, they dive bomb out of the tree. What counts as getting too close? That would be going outside our front door...

- Sunday, we took the kids for a picnic at the park across the street from our house. As we were eating our spam musubi, we were telling the kids how great it was that they eat all different kinds of cuisines. That led to a discussion about the word "cuisine" and as we were explaining that Chinese, Korean, Indian, Ethiopian, Mexican, etc., cuisines are distinct but still "American" a bald eagle flew by! Symbolism, anyone?

- Monday, there was a wild turkey in our backyard. I'm not sure how much more I can say about that.

- Also, Monday, underneath a water table we have outside that had been flipped over so mospuitos don't start to breed in standing water, we found a baby bunny!

Do any of these things have to do with COVID-19? Besides maybe the turkey, almost certainly not. Still, in the midst of pretty much being homebound for the past month, it was a blessing to see that God is still in control of nature, and that the animals are coming to visit so we don't get too bored. =0).

Have an excellent day!

~Adam