Photo Menagerie

One thing I love about my photography hobby is the way it makes me stop and look at the world more closely. My zoom lens helps me get up close and personal with God’s creation, and this year has been a great adventure behind the lens. I want to share photos of some of the creatures I’ve gotten to know with my camera.

March: snow bunny

April: ladybug

April: robin

April: hungry bee

April: hawk on fence (photo by Dan)

July: Mohawk the turtle

August: sneaky mouse

August: woodchuck

August: opossum

(I have to show him twice because he was so unique!)

Of course, we can’t have animals on the blog without mentioning Pancake the squirrel. I have LOTS of photos of that silly guy, and even one of him and his “girlfriend.” (The kids named her Waffle.) 

I am so thankful for the bay window in my living room! It has given me a front-row seat for spying on the world. Now if I could just figure out how to remove the blue cast in my photos that comes from shooting through a Low-E Argon window!

Groundhog Day

(Just writing the title of this post makes me chuckle. That movie cracks me up.)

Anyway... guess what we have living under our front porch?
Can you see it? No, the camera isn't broken or unfocused. Those things that look like spots on the lens are actually fingerprints on my windows. (Have I mentioned I'm not a good housekeeper?)

I was sitting with Katie in the LoveSac this morning, and saw a bit of fur on the front porch. I got up and looked out and saw this little dude just hanging out, sniffing the air. I grabbed the camera, and he noticed me watching him. He scurried off the side of the porch, down to a little hole that's been dug under the concrete slab. I had seen the hole, but thought it was the bunnies back at work (like every summer). Nope. Apparently, we have a groundhog/woodchuck living with us. Wikipedia says they are called Marmota monax. I have no idea if a groundhog is different from a woodchuck or how they might even differ, but if you Google "woodchuck" a photo of our little dude appears. Here he is going under our porch:

I emailed the photos to Dan at work, and he said he'd come home tonight and "take care of him." Aack! What does that mean? Groundhog stew? Dan started singing, "Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts..." from Caddy Shack. Poor guy. (The groundhog, not Dan!) I also called the city, and they said they don't remove animals from private property but could refer us to a service we could hire. Anyone have any ideas of how to evict our vermin?

I would prefer not to have a Bill Murray trilogy going here. First Groundhog Day, then Caddy Shack?! That doesn't bode well!