Our New Tenant

What in the world is Goldyn barking at?  I'm squinting and staring hard across the backyard fence from the same vantage point that Goldyn seems to have.  He is in the zone and has picked out his mark.  Finally, I catch a wavy bushy tail upon the fence rail. Goldyn's barking at a squirrel in our yard!  This is definitely a first!  We have had possums, tree rats and cats, but never have we had a squirrel.  In fact, though there are squirrels further from us at the nearby golf range, they have never been a feature of our neighborhood until now.  That first sighting seemed to be a fluke.  I thought the squirrel must have just got lost, but now I'm finding that he's hanging out and in fact seems to have settled into his new home, even in spite of a barking dog.

It's been fun to watch his antics.  He found a fresh orange and so enjoyed eating the juicy fruit.  It seems to be one of his favorites, since I have found a few more half eaten oranges in our yard.  He really is a bold and brave little fellow.  He seems to follow a path from our fence, into our yard, down the patio steps and then beyond.  Not quite sure where beyond is.  Thought that it may be my vegetable boxes, but all of my greens appear fresh and unharmed.  So perhaps it's onto our neighbor's oak, yet when I found Goldyn barking once again, the little guy was up our palm tree. 

I am hoping that he will stay which he seems to be, even without my invitation.  There is something so refreshing and renewing to just watch nature be at play.  One of my favorite things is sitting on my couch and watching the games from our sliding glass windows.  The sparrows come to drink out of Goldyn's water bowl while trying to steal one of his dog kibbles from his dish.  The kibble is obviously much larger than their tiny beaks and becomes such a challenge as it shoots across the patio.  The hummingbirds compete for the feeder, even though it has 4 drinkable stations.  It seems the most that it will handle is 2 birds on opposite sides, for of course they are never side by side!  Then there are other feathery friends, blue birds and gray ones who like to eat the very hot peppers that grow on our bush.  There's one chirpy little black bird that sits along our pool and swoops down for small bugs trapped upon the water.  And now, Mr. Squirrel has joined the party. 

I'm hoping that he'll get along.  Thus far he has evaded the Goldyn boy.  But Goldyn keeps a close guard of his backyard post.  He lets him know the yard comes with a price and is not always access free.  For now, so far so good, our new tenant seems to have read the rules.