A new neighbor

The last few times we've walked out our front door, it's been a pretty sure thing that someone will get freaked out.

Unfortunately, it usually seems to be me.

See, we have a new neighbor. She moved in so quietly I didn't even realize she was there. But when I left the house in a hurry one day, the sudden flurry of wings right beside my ear gave her away. A mourning dove had been sitting in a hanging planter that sits about 4 feet from our front door.

Nice, I thought. She'll move on.


Nope.

For a couple weeks now, I've forgotten she's there. And whenever we leave, the flurry of wings as she launched herself off the planter have startled us into the siding in one of those evasive reflex actions.

Then one day, there was no flurry. So I glanced over ...

and freaked out anyways. She just sat there, watching me. Not a twitch. Not a stir. Just two little dark eyes watching me. Somehow that was even freakier.


So today we finally figured it out. The kids were playing outside and apparently it finally got to be too much for her. She left the planter and we saw why she's been so still.


So it appears we'll have more neighbors soon. And until then, we're trying to remember not to startle the neighbor lady.