What's with All the Owls?

Owl in tree
Originally uploaded by suzipaw

Are they my familiar or something? Walking Rex last evening, I spotted a large bird swooping into an oak not far up the hill, so thought I'd try to get a closer look, assuming it was a hawk. As I approached the tree, a large bird, not a hawk, went sailing out to alight in the next clump of oaks, and when it landed, I saw clearly that it was an owl. The photo is from Wilbur, since I didn't bring my camera on the walk yesterday.Since it had come out of the tree at a different spot, I thought I'd see if another owl remained, and sure enough, one (Great Horned I think) was still perched in the tree. I squatted and watched it blink at me as Rex snuffled and crunched through the thick fallen leaves. I hoped the other owl would return, and it did much to my delight, landing on a branch even closer than the other owl. I stayed as long as my crouched legs would let me, then left as quietly as I could.

It's been a relatively quiet weekend. Errands, chores, hair trimmed mostly. I bought a couple of books at the thrift stores near where I get my hair cut, Innocence and Anne of Windy Poplars. M's been feeling poorly--he actually took the day off from studying yesterday and slept most of the day. He's been attributing it to the smoky atmosphere, but feeling nauseous most afternoons lately, so we're worried he has a bug of some sort. Well, he has two weeks to kick whatever it is. The air was much clearer today, thank goodness.