Three raccoons on the deck last night…

Here they are in July:

I believe a raccoon was living in our chimney last year around this time. Every night for weeks, it would climb up the drainpipe and across the roof over my bed. I encouraged it to leave by pounding on the grate with a wrench, and then we cleaned and capped the chimney. So, this breeding season, it has moved to the annex just outside the fence – a tree which snapped in half.

Here are a couple of pictures of the mother. We saw the kits (at least 3) for the first time yesterday evening – no good pictures yet.

The rabbit is back, and it was happily munching in the backyard during dinner. Roger was pleased that it was working on the grass in the garden. There were a ton of cardinals this evening as well.

At the same time next door, Toby was going crazy. I actually was able to take his picture in a less frenzied moment.

A new doggie addition – Moby – has moved in across the street. Kathy and Mike so enjoyed having the visitor from New Orleans, that they decided on a dog of their own. Moby is about 8 months old. He likes to bark at me just like Toby next door.

We got the second light snow of the week overnight – enough to close schools, but not enough to keep the rest of the employees home. As I was warming up the car this morning, and taking some pictures, Toby came out to do some business. I called his name and he came tearing towards me – barking like crazy! I was laughing so hard. Rita was hollering for him to come back – and eventually, he did. He is such a ferocious sissy dog. It made my morning.

Toby lives next door. We hear lots from him, but see little of him. I finally snagged a picture today after enticing him off the deck and around to the side fence. He barked furiously the whole time. I was laughing so hard, I almost dropped my camera.

This hammy pooch has moved in across the street. Max is a Louisiana native who sought shelter from the storm. He is not a barker, thank goodness.

I took a hundred or so pictures of hummingbirds while I was in Colorado. You can check out more pictures on my Flickr site.