Hogs!

I understand that the interactions are fraught and dangerous for human and animal alike, that they take place solely because of human encroachment on habitats, and that the whole situation is terrible from one end to the other, but I kind of love suburban wildlife.  Here, behind the graveyard, we have two local flocks of vultures (one turkey and one black neck), owls, foxes, rabbits, skunks, opossums, coyotes, deer (I have heard raccoon fights, but not seen raccoons).  We also have a strain of melanotic gray squirrels (that is to say, they have black fur, and the fact that the top of the street houses a condo complex called The Pines [which is sufficiently shady] prompts the song when I see them).  We also have a groundhog with a long white scar across her back.  We're not sure how social those creatures are, but we occasionally expressed worry that Ms. Groundhog did not seem to have any groundhog friends.

Well, unbeknownst to us, she appears to have had a gentleman caller, as this morning, there are three wee hogs on the ramp up to the back shed.  I would love to congratulate her, but I assume that she would interpret that the way most prey critters interpret human actions and so I wish her and her babies well from afar.