Spying on the neighbors

A few weeks ago I was out doing my nightly rounds of watering and birdbath filling, when I heard a strange cry of some kind. It sounded like a bird, but one that should have been making noise during the day. It was coming from somewhere beyond the farthest back corner of our yard. I went back there and stood for awhile, waiting to hear it again and try to figure out what it was. Sometime over the next couple of days, I heard what I thought was a duck quacking in the same spot. Hmmmm. Then I realized it wasn't a duck, but a chicken. Jav heard it too a couple of times. We assumed it belonged to a family living next to our neighbors directly behind us.

Then Sunday I noticed those same neighbors, directly behind us (we don't know them very well), shooing something out of the back door into the yard. I thought they might have gotten a dog. Later in the day, Jav came to report that they had returned home from somewhere, got out of their truck and walked over to the side of the yard and greeted something. So he also wondered if they had a dog. Or something. I started thinking about the fact that they've been doing alot of yard work over in that corner recently. I mulled it over in my head so much that my curiosity finally got the best of me. After dinner I went out back to check the water dishes and nonchalantly made my way over to the corner and peered through our fence slats to see what I could see.

I reported back to Jav and Gabriel that I saw a shovel and a big pile of dirt, some type of box or feeder with holes in it up off the ground, and a pile of hay. And I faintly smelled a barnyard smell. Now my "Hmmmmmm" turned into a "Aha!" Something is definitely going on back there. Gabriel seemed really interested now, so I asked him if he wanted to walk back with me one more time to see if I could see or hear anything else. I never really stopped to think about the fact that I was teaching him it was ok to spy on the neighbors. At this point I just wanted, beyond all reason, to find out what was going on back there. We had warned Gabriel that he couldn't make ANY noise until we got back inside. We meandered around the yard a bit to make it look good, then headed back to the fence. I found a knothole just right for Gabriel and told him to try to see something. He was peering and all of a sudden got a weird little look on his face. I said, "Do you see anything?" He said in the most excited whisper I have ever heard, "YES". I said, "Really? What do you see?" He said, soooooooo excitedly, "A chicken!" I almost shoved him out of the way to see, and caught a glimpse of two beautiful heirloom type hens, one white and one spotted black, pecking the ground.

We ran back, laughing quietly, to the house to report to Jav. I can't believe these neighbors would try such a thing, they didn't seem like the type AT ALL to me. I have to say I am impressed and a little jealous. I would love to do it, but I have no idea how to even get started, to say nothing of the fact that I think there's a city ordinance against it. We are now wondering if they have to have a rooster back there too. Jav's going to try to talk to them if he catches them outside, just to let them know we are cool with it and ask if maybe the boys can come to visit and see them up close one day. Maybe we can even score some fresh eggs some day! But I relay the story because it will be one I will always remember, how gleeful Gabriel and I were to have discovered the mystery, and how much fun we had doing it.