Little Owls

A few weeks ago I noticed a little something odd near our roof line. It looked like an owl. It was a Saturday morning. I watched it for a bit and it didn't move a muscle. I walked under it and it seemed to watch me, but it still did not look real. It looked like a fake owl that someone would stick on their house to deter critters. Yet (just like those creepy paintings with eyes that "follow" you), it followed me. From every angle I looked at it, it was in the same position, but still watching me.

I talked to it and asked it if it were real. It didn't answer. So I went about my business of cleaning out the chicken coop.

Later that afternoon (Joe and the boys were at the church mulching that morning), I noticed it again. Same place. Same position. I asked Joe if it were real or stuffed. We walked below it and stared up to the roof. Neither one of us was sure. Until it blinked. And we squealed. In fact, we squealed so loudly, that the neighbors came out to see what all the commotion was about.

The next day we noticed two owls sitting side by side. They were so tiny and darling. Then we had some overgrown trees trimmed and the owls disappeared. We were all very sad. The children checked for the owls before school, after school, before dinner, after dinner, and before bedtime. And there was no sign of them. We thought they went away when we trimmed our trees.

Last night (right before our nightly scriptures and prayer), the boys were talking about the owls. Joe noticed something out of the corner of his eye through our french doors. He saw an owl swoop down and land on our deck. Peering through the glass. The kids were so excited that they ran to the door, which frightened the owl away.

Joe and Carter grabbed their cameras and saw not only one owl. Not even two owls. But four owls sitting on the fence and in the tree above. The owls flew around our backyard from tree to tree. One flew into the loft of our barn. One flew to the the top of the barn roof.

Carter was able to capture one of the owls mid-flight. (Joe took the top two photos and Carter took the bottom two.) The boys are so happy because they are about to take the "new" original Tracking merit badge that has been re-released this year only in celebration of the Boy Scouts 100th anniversary.

And speaking of scriptures, our family finished reading The Book of Mormon for the third time last week.