Animal Sightings

When I lived in the city, I rarely thought about animals. I'd occasionally see a dog or a cat, and of course sometimes birds would fly around, but that was about it. As a marker of just how different it is where I live now, I thought I would list all the animals I saw yesterday on my way to and from work, about 60 miles round trip.

1. Dogs - Obviously, we have five of them.


2. Horses - Our own three and numerous others on the way that belong to neighbors


3. Donkeys (standard and miniature) - Again, both our own and others'.


4. Cows - Including a very proud and swingin' bull.


5. Llamas - When you first see a llama in a herd of cattle or goats, you think somehow an afghan blanket has gotten blown into the field.


6. Goats - A family of ten or so goats is standing in the middle of the road every evening when I come home, including babies that are about the size of a double handful.


7. Deer - Sometimes dead on the side of the road, sadly, but often a family bounds across the street as I approach.


8. Vultures - They were dining on the remains of the deer. Sad, but necessary.


9. Rabbits - A little baby cottontail dashed across the driveway on my way out of the house. He needs to be careful, the dogs love to hunt rabbits.


10. Buffalo - One of our neighbors has invested in a buffalo mother and calf and has it grazing their property at the end of the neighborhood.


11. Bats - One of the largest bat colonies in the southwest lives under the Round Rock Interstate 35 overpass. At this time of year you see them streaming out from their nests like billowing clouds of smoke on your way north on the highway.


12. Hawk (or is it a falcon?) - I don't know for sure which species it is, but a predatory bird flew right past my windshield as I was on the access road for the highway. Pretty amazing.


13. African antelopes - There's an exotic game ranch on my way to work and these tiny little antelopes are always munching away behind their giant fence.


14. Emus - There are two male emus, each on one side of Highway 29. They pace each other in parallel up and down the fenceline every day, intent on making sure the other one knows just how tough they are. I am sure there's a metaphor for how human males strut in the same way, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader. Insert your own snark here.

I wonder now, if there just weren't as many animals around when I was in the city, or if I just didn't notice. Either way, I'm grateful to have my eyes open now -- they're pretty cool.