The other night, when all was quiet and still, I heard a sound which caught my attention. Stopping what I was doing at the computer, I turned toward my open window and listened for what I thought was a very faint, but unmistakable sound of one of my beloved owl. A number of moments passed without hearing anything other than a passenger jet plane taking off from the local airport. Still I listened. Then, there it was, the distinct, definitive hoot of a Great Horned Owl!

I immediately got up and went outside to the backyard, Jake and Bear my two dogs looking at me in wonder as to ask what was going on. Standing outside in the dark, I must have look like one of those “odd” and ‘peculiar” neighbors, especially with my hands cupped over my ears so as to better maximize my hearing. Way off within the distance, I could discern the unmistakable territorial hooting duet of a pair of the Great Horned Owls. Closing my eyes, so as to clear all visual and mental distractions, so I could just take in the sounds that I have missed for over a years time.

I can’t describe how much comfort hearing the owls brought me, for it means that they have found a suitable nest which replaced the ones that they occupied before the developer tore out the grand, venerable Eucalyptus trees behind the house and erected the new monstrous homes.

Mother Nature finds a way as the old adages goes. I went to sleep with my window open, listening to my beloved owls making known their stately and solemn presence to all within the neighborhood.

Suffice to say, I had a good, sound sleep knowing my beloved owls were close by.