Living With the Wildlife

From our first days here in our Southwest casita, we have enjoyed many kinds of wildlife.  Just this evening, a scorpion came running across the kitchen floor as we were sitting down to eat dinner.  That was an indoor sighting.  Outdoors, we have seen all sorts of animals, birds, and reptiles.   For example, while I was sitting in my office a few weeks ago, a coati went walking by the window towards the neighbor's house.  He looked a lot like the one in the image above.

Another day, we saw a whole family a javelinas chewing on the pretty orange flowers growing along the driveway.  And yet another family, a group of five smallish mule deer were grazing in our front yard last week.

All this wildlife activity is a fascinating attraction to Eric, me, and our curious cat Tagine.  She likes to watch the lizards and spiders scampering by our south-facing sliding glass door, and she often asks us to let her go outside, but the answer is always "No".  She's probably happy enough watching all the outdoor visitors at a safe distance!