I have to admit I have one of the coolest eco systems going on in my front porch area and it never ceases to amaze me when I go out there.

I have at least 5 different types of spiders (they have some amazing webs), a bunch of baby frogs, some flying things (I haven’t looked them up in the book yet), shiney black beetles, butterflies (yellow ones, monarchs, and white peacocks), an assortment of lizards (one really large green one that I think used to be someone’s pet…but now he frequents my porch whenever the mood strikes him), and a green stinkbug I’ve named Frank.

Almost forgot - I have a racoon too, but he only comes out at night and he’s not on my good side. He ate the doves that were nesting in my hanging planter - the doves that I had watched and grown to love over the course of a month.

It started with one dove - who, at first, seemed very tentative about building a nest in my hanging planter. But one day, I looked out my dining room window and right there, plain as day, resting on a bed of twigs was the dove. Every day I’d peek out the window and have the most perfect view into her home. A few times I got scared because she never left, but the amazing morning I looked out and saw those two fuzzy chicks, I understood. I watched them grow and get bigger, and I thought about the day they’d be learning how to fly. I believe they even came to trust me because they stopped flinching each time I opened the curtain or passed by their nest.

Then that frightful morning came when I looked out the window and they were all gone. I knew it was too soon for them to “leave the nest” and figured they must have been spooked by something…then I went outside and saw the trail of feathers and I knew what happened. That was one of the first times I actually wanted to mame or injur an animal. I had actually grown to like the racoon (although keeping my distance), and it felt like it betrayed my trust. That was a sad day indeed. I try to remind myself that “it’s the circle of life” and all that nonsense, but it just doesn’t make it better.

Anyhoo, back to my eco-system. Some people (namely my family) don’t think it’s normal for me to “allow” these creatures to reside in or around my home area….

Personally, I like my little eco-system and so does Little Tiger. Plus, I’ve done my research and none of them are of the poisonous variety, and as long as they don’t disturb me, I won’t disturb them (with the exception of the racoon, next time I see that little fuzzy *******, I’m calling animal control on his ass)

I’m starting to think I don’t belong in a city of any sort and I should buy a house on acres of forested land or something…