Spotted!

We went for a canoe ride this afternoon and ended up banking the boat at a rocky point on the lake.  We all jumped out, hiked up a set of steps and onto a trail that we happened to find.  Perfect for us, because we all settle in and become more alive in the woods.  In fact, we all love being on a forest trail.  We found lots of treasures including the first green acorns of the season, teeny tiny pine cones, forts that someone else had built out of sticks, large moss covered rocks to climb on, and then WHAM, the boys spotted the best jewel of all; a large barred owl.  If you've never seen one, they are huge.  This one was as big as our largest chicken Freckles, and she is enormous.  The boys were ahead of us on the trail and spotted it as it flew over them.  They first thought it was a hawk but Anders quickly realized it was an owl with a giant wingspan.  The owl landed on a branch above us and then just sat there staring.  We of course all stared back.  It stared for quite a few minutes - and the four of us just stood there wondering just what would happen.  We hooted a bit and the owl pleased all of us by twisting it's head around to listen to our imitation calls.  Then it took off and landed close by again, this time on the other side of the path.  We of course followed it and stood there amazed at it's bravery, curiosity, and willingness to hover so close to four humans.  Simply a beautiful surprise in the middle of this beautiful day.