Morning JD. Love your photos.

Deer are up on the mountain at my daughter's pond most everyday, but don't come down to my place. Their pond is a wildlife sanctuary all its own, and I am still waiting to catch a glimpse of the blue heron that wade up there.

My house sits in a small clearing at the edge of the woods, where grazing land begins, so I am surrounded by cattle. I watch all the cattle happenings around here. Bulls come in, little calves come out, some go off to market, others breed and graze. Their sleek, shiny black, summer coats, are all thick and puffy now ready for the snow. I try not to get attached, but they are sweet animals and the little ones are fun to watch.

Apparently, the place where woods and meadows meet is a haven for birds. I often wake to dozens, even a hundred or more birds around me. Couple months ago, two scary big red-headed woodpeckers arrived at the snags behind my house. I looked them up, they are Pileated Woodpeckers, the largest of their species in Kentucky. They mate for life, claim territory and stay, so we are neighbors now.

As I read your article, I was thinking, you can't get attached to blacktop, cement, glass, steel and advertising and that's what cities are made of. Out in the country, everything is alive, unpredictable, uncontrollable. Boredom vanishes when everything around you, is changing and adapting all the time.

Even when I was a little kid growing up in the mountains, people from cities were driving out to rural areas and dropping off litters of dogs and cats by the side of the road, then driving away. Up in the mountains of California, coyotes, cougars, bears and vultures took care of most of them. But the dogs that survived formed packs and they were more dangerous than their predators. Dog packs chased me on horseback a couple times - scary stuff. Point being, its best to pick up those litters and take them to the shelters.

Happy holidays to you and yours. :)