It always takes me extra long to get back to my normal routine once the company leaves and my house is back in order. This morning was the first time in days that I was able to just sit quietly at the table and drink my coffee while watching the sunrise.

Soon, the magpies arrived…

And not long after that came my little sparrows indulging themselves at the bird feeder…

We don’t have guests too often, maybe two or three times a year, but living with Yellowstone as our “backyard” means that we do offer to have friends and family from out of state come stay (and they usually happily take us up on it!).

So now that the whirlwind of a week of entertaining family has died down, everything seems so quiet again, although it’s far from quiet here! This morning I noticed all the pups lined up at the fence barking furiously and realized they had noticed the big hawk up in the poplar tree staring down at my little homestead.

He’s almost always there these days, but he must have swooped overhead to get their attention. He’s been doing that lately, even when I’m outside, so I have been extra careful about letting the puppies out into the uncovered play yard only when I can supervise and keep a watchful eye out.

We’ve found new homes for two of them already, so we’re down to just six now. They are just so cute and fun, I am really going to miss these little boogers!

My worst nightmare would be if the hawk got one.

He may have been watching the starlings swooping back and forth from the roof to the crab apple tree, gobbling up what’s left of the fruit from last year…

He is more than welcome to feast upon them. We have plenty of starlings to go around.

I read in our local news that the Great Grey Owls are down off the mountains next to the river just up the road from us so I might talk the hubs into taking me for a drive to see if we can spot them.

After all the driving we did over the last week and a half I am not sure he’ll be too keen on that idea, though! 😅