My Treehouse in the Woods

Early this Spring I moved into my current apartment in the Browne's Addition in Spokane. I love this part of Spokane. Browne's was the first established neighborhood in Spokane, still sporting Victorian and Tudor homes including the first Mayor's home and many other historic buildings. Now intermixed with funky businesses and edgy condos in between the giant centennial oak trees, its a great place to live.



What I wasn't expecting was the Wildlife.

My apartment looks out into a small wooded alcove of my apartment building, which abuts the Spokane River. At this point I expected some lovely birds and small mammals to make there home nearby.

This was an underestimation.

First surprise. The tree outside of my window ended up being a giant mulberry bush. Needless to say there was A LOT of wildlife near my window very early in the morning...

This was very soon followed by a 5am woodpecker. Yes a woodpecker. Waking up to that little wood drill was very confusing and took me a couple mornings to figure out what it was.

There were many other furry encounters as well. Raccoons, Skunks, Porcupine.

But the biggest surprise came this morning as I was waiting for the bus outside of my apartment. Suddenly a young buck walked out into street behind me. Shocked, I watched it cross the street and walk calmly down the sidewalk. As I got on the bus I mentioned it to the driver, who replied "Only in Spokane." The quiet buck stared as the giant metal goliath drove by waiting for us to leave so he could be on his way.