Published Nov 1, 2008
So at the Housewarming Party the dog walked out the front door, took a left turn, and went absentmindedly exploring down the block. A neighbor a few houses down fortunately recognized him and came by carrying the little guy. Let me tell you that finding a black dog in the middle of the night did not sound like a good bet at the time and we were sure happy to see the pup. Then, as we were setting up for last night’s combined Halloween/AIG’s Birthday party, a Cooper’s Hawk suddenly swept down from the sky gunning straight for Junior.
I was about six feet away and in no position to do anything about it. Junior saw the hawk well before me and went into full display and let loose his loudest alarm call. All of a sudden, the hawk just hung there in the air, with his target suddenly looking twice as large as when he began his dive; I could see the characteristic round tail shape and the blue-gray basic coloring and the barred tail. And then the hawk’s wings got lift and he swooped away, clearing the wall between our house and the neighbor’s by about a foot and apparently shooting just over the neighbors’ heads on the way to whatever tree he’d been sitting in. Junior wasn’t worked up; I guess he’s just so used to assuming he’ll be eaten (he is a prey animal after all) that he thought actual peril was no different from just any other day.
Fortunately, the party we threw went great. I made an aioli and sauteed mushrooms and boiled potatoes to dip in it, and we served Dark n’ Stormies, Diabolos, and Black Witches. We even had some fun decorating the place:
And the birthday celebration was wonderful, with the AIG’s favorite carrot cake and a delicious flan cake as well:
It was a great Halloween, but I hope I don’t have another one as scary soon! And, worse, now we’ve had peril to both the pets in both of our parties. Who’s next? Does it rotate back to Jake, or is it going to be trouble for me or for the Most Important Pet, the AIG?
Well, as scary as it was, we sure did have a great party! As for the next one…I don’t know? Do we rent a pet (say, a cat) for a night to decrease our individual odds of peril?