Visiting Owl

No one answered our knock.  A peek through the windows revealed a deserted snack in progress but no live bodies.  We tried the door, found it open, and walked in.  The note on the table said that my cousin Lex had taken husband Dennis to the ER… “Make yourselves at home.” Disconcerting to say the least.

In short order, the next-door-neighbor appeared, Lex called to say “all is well” and, not long after that, arrived to put together a new recipe.  As she was popping the ‘Mexican Casserole’ into the oven, she filled us in on Dennis’s ‘episode’ (heart arrhythmia…”maybe”) and went back to the hospital to collect the patient.  He had been pronounced “good-to-go” and they got back in time for Lex to create a green salad to go with her fabulous casserole.

Two Visiting Owls

“She does that,” Dennis said.  “Puts together something she’s never tried before when we have company.”

“Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t,” laughed Lex.

“Brave,” we thought.  “Very brave.”  And this meal “worked” to perfection!

Yard Art in Sun Valley

All the while there were ominous rumbles, flashes of lightening and spates of pelting rain.  A mountain thunder storm putting on a show just for us!  As we were catching up the Oysterville and family news, a great horned owl flew past the window and landed on the fence post.  Then another one.  We watched as they tried first this branch, then that one, in a nearby tree.  Sometimes they stared right at us with their big round eyes; sometimes at each other.  And then the lights went out.

No problem.  It was probably nine o’clock – still light out.  Lex gave me a tour of the upstairs (our ‘quarters’), provided us with an electric lantern and we soon settled in.  We were fast asleep before dark descended.  I’m told the power came back on at eleven o’clock.

It’s our first time in Sun Valley.  It felt like a dramatic introduction!