It’s still raining heavily here, which is why I was surprised to hear the doorbell ring and find a pair of Mormon missionaries at the door this morning. I don’t know if they get extra bonus temple points for converting people during bad weather, but I didn’t feel like playing along so I just ignored them as I usually do.

I mean, after all, they ignore my “no soliciting”signs over and over so we’re even I guess.

The dogs were throwing an absolute fit at the same time, and I suspected it was over more than just the missionaries (who I doubt they could even see given where they were in the pen at the time). Their attention was 100% on the corn growing between the dog kennels and the poultry pens.

I looked out the two windows that offer the best view of that particular area but couldn’t see much besides a few little house sparrows darting in and out of the corn, which, outside of it being in the pouring rain, is normal for them to do and not something the dogs usually pay much attention to.

I thought maybe one of the pheasant or baby ducks had escaped again and was hiding in the corn. That would definitely explain the dog’s behavior. So I sent my son out to check and just as he went out the front door to walk around to see what was up, I spotted it.

A beautiful hawk or falcon (I’m not sure which) was perched up over the poultry pens, totally fixated on them to the point that he didn’t even flinch when my son walked past him. The dogs must have spotted him through the corn.

I opened the window and yelled down to my son to shoo him off but he just didn’t want to go!

It was almost comical watching as he moved from one spot to another, taking inventory of all the birds in the pens, totally ignoring my son frantically waving his arms and hollering at him to go away.

Eventually he got the hint when the rake came out and swung too close for comfort. He flew off into the neighbor’s tree and waited, while I watched with amusement, until my son double checked that everyone was safe and secure in their pens and then headed back in.

Then he swooped right back down to his original spot and went right back to his mission. He didn’t stay long, though, and moved on after a few minutes, much to my relief since the dogs finally calmed down after that.

I have a feeling that just like the Mormons, we’ll be seeing him again soon. 😆