OK, I get it

We moved from LA and now we have wildlife.  Honestly, I just wasn't expecting this much.  We live on a little over an acre with a pond behind us.  It is a subdivision but we are at the very end on a cul de sac with just a few other homes.  You can see from pictures I have posted how verdant it is and it does provide a perfect habitat for these animals.  We have an iron fence around the perimeter so most four legged creatures can't get in but anything with wings can set up shop here.  I've already mentioned the bat and we have a bird's nest under our deck which already contained eggs when we moved in so we are waiting it out.  The chicks have hatched and they peer down at me as I spray away their poop everyday.  I see the smug look on their little faces.  They lost one of their siblings in a "God is angry"  thunderstorm the other night.  It was a most unfortunate discovery by Elise the following morning.
Anyway,  here is what we see on a daily basis:  about 100 different kinds of birds which I do not know the names of any except hawks (there is reason this is the hawk-eye state. jeez Louise there are tons), eagles, owls (there is an awesome owl that flies up to our roof every night around the same time-9pm.  I'm silly over owls..I love them so),  wild turkeys (ugly, annoying and stupid),  ducks, geese, storks,  great blue herons, cranes.  
Deer, raccoons, beavers, possums, Elise, Max, turtles, otters and foxes

Old MacDonald had a tractor

Because, I mean, we couldn't move to Iowa and not get them this:

vertically challenged

Elise has recently developed a strong interest in midgets.  I'm not sure how happy I am about the fascination as she makes no attempt to hide the question in public.   At Target:  "Is that one? What about that one?  Oh Look! Over there-I bet that's one!"
No, there is not a disproportionate number of dwarfs in Iowa City; children get her label as well.  I explained as best I could that a little person is someone who is born with a condition where they never grow to be as large as other people and stay small even when they are adults.  She responded by saying "Oh mommy, are you one?"
This may be a reasonable claim since, in general, the average BMI of the population has gone up substantially since leaving California. (greater Iowa City area excluded)

Happy Independence Day

or "the day that no one tells us what to do" as Elise pointed out.  Our backyard is a firework lighting paradise and Mike brought out some ridiculous ones this year.  You know you live in a great neighborhood when your (Holly's) fear of lighting off illegal pyrotechnics is squelched by the professional level show the neighbors put on.
It's hard to not be in love with our backyard..thousands of fireflies,  croaking frogs and cute bats that come out at dusk.  I love bats..I feel they are severely misunderstood.  They are good for the earth! They eat all the yucky bugs.  Though I would not be so welcoming to one indoors.  It appears we have just one roosting under our deck. I'm considering building a bat box near the pond outside our fence.  It's so pleasant watching them fly around at night.
After tonight's light show I'm not sure any will stick around.  I think we scared them all away.

Summer is hotter here

in the Midwest.  There's all kinds of different here.  Mike maintains that because he grew up in western New York he has a tie to Midwestern roots.  I will vouch that the accent in Iowa is more Rochester than say, northern Minnesota (darn it!).  I do not have any prior association with the Midwest so I am a stranger in a strange land. Humoring the dramatic Holly...I do love our neighborhood and home.  I was in the local co-op buying cheese.  I think there were more selections than when I was in France.  No shortage of farms here.  Although I applaud it, the recycling here in Iowa City/Coralville is more confusing and elaborate than in California.
Elise's new "climbing tree"

Our house is the one to the left.  Lots of space.