Story Musings
Critters At My House 
I have tried to create a healthy environment with eco-friendly materials and no-VOC paints, Better World cleaning products, and no bug sprays. Sometimes that means I have to tolerate the occasional spider or ant, and even an odd migration of tiny little mites across the window sill, but the rewards . . . .
Lighting bugs (fireflies) abound! Right now there’s a storm making it so dark that the fireflies are lighting up! There was an interesting beetle last summer, perhaps a stag beetle, that looked a bit like a scarab. A turtle visited the front walk,
and a lovely Luna moth, so otherworldly, perched on my deck door.
I have seen rabbits, woodchucks, raccoons, fox . . . but not the deer, only deer prints in the snow (they must be shy).
** March 2014 — I have since seen the deer a few times. They seem to know they are safe here. I’ve just discovered they like holly bushes. Good thing the “bunny in the bush” isn’t sleeping in the holly bush this winter.
Prince, my resident tree frog, was quite entertaining when he spent the winter. His cousins or offspring have been appearing in the mailbox, on the deck, and on the windows, and their songs at night are so wonderful that I sometimes turn off TV and stereo, the better to hear them.
There will be plenty more frogs, too, judging by the quantity of little bitty frogs Kathy’s grandchildren found in her garden (and turned loose).
