Talk About Tuesday 26

It's 31℉, which is just below 0℃. It's a little cloudy, but we're not due for any precipitation today. I've had only one cup of coffee, and it doesn't feel like enough. I've baked, done dishes, and played a little more Office Boy. The cat is snuggling with my younger sister, and my dad's home for lunch (reheated leftovers). We're all waiting for my mom to come home from work, I think. Regardless, I have a tale to tell!

Last night, Z and I stopped at the local library to chat, because it was a pleasant night and neither of us was ready to part ways. We were sitting on a granite bench, facing the local Planned Parenthood (what a wonderful place!), and talking, when Z suddenly stopped moving and murmured for me to look at one of the parking signs.

Perched atop the rectangular sign was a large dark shape. I stilled and stared - it's pretty rare to see owls in town. It's even rarer to catch them hunting. It makes sense to me that it would choose the parking lot of a small-town Planned Parenthood, though, because it's near another building with a lot of workers, and there are some dumpsters in the area. Where there are dumpsters in this town, there are rats. And here, rats are the size of squirrels in normal places.

We watched it listening for food, and then it took off. When they tell you owl's are silent, they're not kidding. They're 100% noiseless. It's amazing! We didn't dare take pictures because we didn't want to scare it. When it flew off, we started down the same road it had flown down, fully expecting it to be gone.

It wasn't.

Z stopped me not far down the street and pointed - our feathered friend had stopped on another parking sign! We watched it as we passed, but when we looked back at it, it had already vanished. Literally in the blink of an eye. Incredible.

When I got home, I grabbed our copy of Sibley's and ran through the local owls, and only one matched our sighting:

The Barred Owl

It was late, so its coloration was obscured, but I could see the bars on its tailfeathers as we passed it.

I hope that everyone can have a calm, quiet, magical experience this week like this one.

Go Enjoy Something
FC