Owls and Halloween...they go together!

  Well, it is that time of year for me.  That time when my thoughts turn strictly to fall and Halloween.  Yep, you heard that correctly, Halloween. I do understand that it is still September and there are quite a few days until the end of October but I feel you can never be ready enough for the big day to be here.  Not that we ever get any trick-or-treaters this far down on the Bayou but it is more the decorating that I crave.  I love to redo the house after the long stretch of non-holiday decor.  Fall and Halloween, for me, are the start of the holiday season where the Little Bayou House can be dressed in all of its gaudiness and still be considered "normal".  Not that I really ever fit with the term "normal" and not that my decorations ever fit with the term "normal" but at least with everyone else decorating, I have an excuse!  

  I do not feel too very bad though since, today while out in the garden, one of my "Halloween" friends stopped in to visit for a spell.  I was busy jerking out the spent basil plants when I felt that eerie feeling creep over me.  You know, the one that tells you that someone (or something) is watching you?  The hair-raising-on-the-back-of-the-neck creepy sensation that all eyes are on you?  Yeah, that one!  With a bit of trepidation of what I might find observing me, I turned to face my stalker!  Finding no one at ground level, my eyes turned skyward. Something must be in the treetops.  I am rarely mistaken when I think I am being watched.  Sure enough, on the third limb up from the ground, two large eyes stared at me from the nearby pine tree.

  My friend, the owl, had dropped by to inspect my work.  I am sure it was more casing the garden for the upcoming night's hunt but I like to think the owl comes to visit me and not spy for rat tunnels that are being exposed.  "Hi, Friend Owl.  Welcome to the garden!"  (I, indeed, chatted with the bird.)  The owl made no reply but, instead, just eyed me curiously.

   I figure that my Friend Owl needs to hang around the garden more often.  Not only will the bird do a fine job of ridding the place of rodents but its presence will be a fine addition to my Halloween decorations! Now, if I could only convince Friend Owl to bring a few ravens along for a visit, I would be thrilled!  (I guess I will have to be happy with a couple of crows, though, since ravens do not live around the Bayou.)