The Back Yard Is Alive

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

We are getting ready to move to Allen, TX.  According to the brochure, Allen has doubled in size in the last five years, from forty thousand people to near eighty thousand.  News travels fast about a great town I guess.

One of the "sacrifices" of our moving to Texas was that we gave up our dog.  This was not a sacrifice for me but rather (almost) a joy.  I was never really a fan of the dog.  Hey, if you can't be honest on your own blog, when can you be?

The dog in question was a Cocker Spaniel named Pongo.  We have had him since he was a puppy and he turned three this year.  Our son named him Pongo after the daddy dog in 101 Dalmations.  The brochure said that the Cocker Spaniel was "A happy little tail-wagger of average intelligence" and I fear Pongo brought down the average.

Since our back yard is fenced in, we would let Pongo loose to enjoy the backyard.  It turns out that Pongo was the field line of Cockers.  Among other things, this means he likes to run and chase / kill any wildlife in the near vicinity.  Once you let him out the back door, all you saw was a yellow streak flying across the yard and a trail of dust and grass.  So, for the last 2 years or so we have had no wildlife in our backyard.  And I mean none.  Pongo could sneak up and kill a bird that was on the ground.  Word traveled fast in the wildlife community (the birds told the chipmunks, then chipmunks told the squirrels, and so on).  The wife and I would sit in the kitchen and drink coffee in the morning and not hear any birds chirping.  And I mean none.

Fast forward to about six weeks ago when we took Pongo back to the Cocker rescue.  Did I mention that word travels fast in the wildlife community?  We have seen four rabbits, six chipmunks, and even had a nest with three baby birds in it.  The nest was only four feet off the ground too!  Amazing!

Our backyard is like the Allen, TX of our neighborhood.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon