Going green

Green with envy, that is. All this booger-freezin' cold weather has me longing for the days when I was a stay-at-home mom and being envious of those people who still are.

Way back then, I would have entered hibernation mode about Tuesday night when the snow started falling and the temps began their nosedive. I would have let Mike drive the kids to school on Wednesday and again today. Yes, a little more than three years ago, I wouldn't have emerged until this Saturday when the temp is expected to reach a balmy 29 degrees.

But that was then and this is now. And now I have a job that I enjoy, but that requires me to haul my hinder (as my Wisconsonite boss refers to the rear end) out of bed, get dressed and actually cross the threshold of my front door morning and late afternoon.

And today while I was at work, I missed all the excitement that happened on my back porch. I called home to let Mike and the kids know what time I would be at home. Annie answered.

"Mom -- there's a hawk on the back porch and it's chest is open and it has guts hanging out. Dad's going to get it off the porch."

"Is it dead?"

"No, it's alive and it's trying to get out, but it keeps running into the screen and Dad's afraid it's going to shred the new screen, so he's putting on big gloves and going out to get it."

"Tell Dad to call Animal Control." Which she did and which Mike immediately casted off as a bad idea because our screen porch would be ruined by the time Animal Control can get there. I told Annie I would be home soon and then hung up.

And then I thought -- this will make a great blog! So I called back to tell Annie to grab the camera and take pictures. Except Mike answered. And seeing as he was ready to do battle with a chicken hawk on the back porch, he wasn't exactly in any mood to be photographed or conversational.

So no pics of "Man vs. Beast." I do have a ton of feathers and rodent guts on the back porch -- turns out the bird wasn't injured. It had snagged some small animal and intended to use our porch as a dining room.

In the end, the prey lost its life, the bird gained release and Mike was left with a couple of scratches on his gloved hand and a great story to tell. And I find myself thinking, "I am glad I was work today!"

Check out Mike's haiku about the incident.

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