Early Bird

Sometimes it pays to get up early. Even if you don't have to. I usually don't have to because hubby is the morning person in this house and he gets the kids out the door on school days. (Mind you that comes to an end 1st of March when he goes back to work. Damn.) Anyway, yesterday I asked him to wake me up early because I wanted to get up to make a hot breakfast for the kids since it's been so bloody cold. So he did. Coffee in bed and all. When I came downstairs, he had stepped out for a cigarette (I don't care how cold or wet or miserable it gets, he smokes outside!) and next thing I know he's waking at me like a lunatic and trying to get me to come outside. Ha! I think not. He opens the door a crack and says, "You gotta see this!" Curiosity peaked, I slip on a pair of his boots and join him in my jammies on the porch. He's pointing into the big oak on our property line. I might have looked at him like he was smoking something other than plain ol' cigarettes, but he kept pointing and finally I saw what the fuss was about. A great horned owl had decided to roost in our tree. Very cool. See the very crappy photo proof below. It was still quite dark and that was the best shot I could get. He must have got annoyed with the flash though because he took off and landed a few feet away on top of a power pole at the end of our driveway, scaring the birds sleeping in the huge spruce right next to it. After another couple snaps of the camera he flew off across the street and out of site. All in all a nifty experience since I've been hearing him hooting late into the night all last summer. Nice to know that I wasn't wrong in my assumption that it was an owl and not the mourning doves calling to each other.