“Check near the back gate for dead things before you let the dogs out. There’s a hawk… no, probably a falcon… killing something on top of the garbage can.”
What an uplifting start to the day, huh? Even though you don’t usually think about seeing birds of prey in a residential neighborhood in Chicago, we do have quite a few urban falcons and hawks in the area. It was probably a peregrine falcon, like this one (although we have seen the occasional red-tailed hawk nearby):
photo credit: stirwise
It was also considerate enough to eat or haul away its entire kill, except the feathers… a LOT of feathers… clinging to the top of the garbage can.
No time to play CSI: Norwood Park because the day’s thunderstorms were on the way. No rain yet by the time I left for work, but the wind had kicked up. Axel was standing still in the back yard and his ears were flapping in the wind like he was about to take flight. Okay, that’s not really funny given yesterday’s post about the Rottweiler in a tornado. But they were flapping pretty good.
There were a lot of areas with storm damage and power outages. Happily, we were once again unscathed. The dogs and I never actually got wet despite the torrential downpours. We managed to time all of our outdoor excursions between the thunderstorms.
This is what my commute to work looked like as I hit the Ohio Street offramp. Looking to the south, it was very grey but there were still some patches of light and almost-clear sky:
Looking to the north, the clouds were dropping lower and turning black and threatening:
I did get inside the office about a minute before the clouds made good on their threat of a drenching rain.
(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 19 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 146 of 274)
Bev says
Loved “CSI Norwood Park” LOL.
*mingle*
.-= Bev´s last blog ..Up, UP and Away =-.
kathi says
I could totally picture myself swabbing the garbage can top for trace evidence, and having my trusty dogs sniff out additional clues!