Wild Kingdom at the Obergs

We’ve had some interesting wildlife sightings of late…A week or so ago, Michele and I were in the family room watching TV when we suddenly noticed that a raccoon had walked up to the screen door and was pressing its face against the screen, calmly staring at us for several seconds before disappearing. Then two nights ago as I was letting Sarah (the dog) out for her late night constitutional, my attention was drawn to a large shadow, just beyond the reach of the floodlight. I suddenly realized it was a large buck, frozen in stillness in the middle of our backyard. He hesitated for just a few more seconds before disappearing swiftly and in total silence into the darkness. Wow, that was a heart-pounding moment! I think he may have been on his way to sample our vegetable garden or something. Fortunately, Sarah never even knew he was there. Also, we have a large, fat groundhog living under our garden shed. He (or she) will appear occasionally, standing as tall as he can to see if there is any danger, before going back into his hole. One time I came within just a few feet of him before he realized my presence and scurried down his hole. Finally, about three weeks ago while working on the computer, my attention was drawn to a lot of birds flying around in the backyard in obvious agitation. When I looked out the window, to my astonishment, I noticed that a huge old crow with a white streak on its head had seized a fledgling robin, almost full grown, and was busy killing and eating the poor thing. Despite being mobbed by tons of other birds (not just robins), he calmly stood there on the ground, eating his fill until he was done. He then flew away. It’s Wild Kingdom at the Obergs!