Suzanne you left out the part about: The brown stinky stuff in the road you just ran over is manure either from the dairy farm down the road or the neighbor's horses. Great fertilizer also but it IS messy when it's thrown from tractor tires or it falls off the truck during transport. Don't put the top down on your cute little car and don't call to complain about it either. Welcome to the country. For Eagle fans here's a link for you. Click on live Eagle cam and enjoy. Here is a link that might be useful: Eagle Cam

Thanks, all. It was nice, for once, to have a clear-cut identification - thanks to the hawk's hanging around and posing, flashing all of the ID tips. Usually I'm scratching my head and fussing over an ambiguous photo. Claire

I have a friend who is very good with Hawk ID's. In reference to the Cooper's Hawks, she always says, "The eye never lies." So, I am assuming that the Cooper's eye is helpful with the ID. I have one here and it hunts in my yard around my bird feeders. As I was looking out the window at the plethora of Grackles (YUCK), Starlings (Double-YUCK), and Red Winged Blackbirds the other day, that hawk came swooping in fast and low, and grabbed himself a RWB for breakfast. Wow! I wish that it could have been one of the other birds, but I am always in AWE of the raptors. They are such majestic creatures. Unlike most people who feed songbirds, I truly don't mind the hawks snatching a meal when they can. I just hope they won't choose my BB's!

One dog dies last year and I believe the other did this year. Maybe she just got tired of them and gave them up. It has been quite quiet around here, neighbors have commented on it. As for moving should she replace them, I inherited the house I grew up in. My mother designed it, my father built it. There are over 400 specific plants in the gardens and there is just too much sentimentality involved, not to mention that I am a bit old to be relocating. For now, her hedges have thickened and grown tall enough that all anyone sees is a nice green backdrop for my gardens. You would not even know there was a house in there. It is very unfortunate because the house has an excellent picture window that used to overlook the valley. Last summer, in the only patch of sun filled area in her yard, she had a lawn chair out and was sunning herself. I could only see her through a bathroom window and she looked like the proverbial beached whale. I pulled the curtains to stop from laughing. The dogs are just a memory now....