Spooky

We live in New York City... so we live with a few creatures.  Some are acceptable, some are not.  In fact, the acceptability of a creature is all about location, location, location, much like everything else here in the city.  I actually don't mind seeing rats in the subway - it entertains me while I wait for the train.  I think about where they sleep, what they are thinking, how far away do they travel on any given day, have they ever taken a ride IN the subway... etc. (Cue my husband "you are insane" comment)

I also don't mind pigeons.  I try to think of them as less fortunate doves that are just trying to get by in the world.  Noodles loves these 'doves' and wants to introduce herself by leaping at them any chance she gets. 

I have never really lived with the pigeons or rats for that matter... that is until we moved into our apartment on the upper west side (after our one year Brooklyn experiment).  No, we don't have rats!  We have a ledge outside our apartment that runs just about the entire length of the long building.  So, almost all of our windows look out on this ledge. It is very exciting to have a ledge where I can put plants out there to watch them die, slowly... (In my dreams I have a green thumb, in reality, my plants hate me).

Anyway, back to the creatures.  So this ledge, it is home to about 20 or so pigeons.  I have named some of them, but darn it if they all don't look alike! They sun themselves out there, they bathe in puddles that pool on the ledge, the preen and prune (or whatever it is that they do) and they mate... and they have babies that make A LOT OF NOISE. 

And sometimes they just perch, really close to the window and scare the sh*t out of me.