Aside: Nature and the Miracle of Love

One of the nicest things about living in our neighborhood is the natural environment: mature trees, lots of squirrels and bunnies, and even the occasional possum (unfortunately). But in late September, we got a surprise visit from a beautiful hawk; he hung out in our front yard for a few hours before leaving under cover of darkness:

While the hawk provided a bit of excitement in the front yard, the real action was in the backyard. Apparently the sight of our new addition is putting the local wildlife 'in the mood.' While admiring our framing work, I looked out the window to see two squirrels taking turns humping each other (the fluff-balls can be seen in the red circle below):

Yeah, that's right - I said that they took turns humping each other. I can only assume that they were here to try to recruit my dogs into their deviant lifestyle. This is an assault on my marriage!