Here in the middle of Portland we live in a neighborhood built up in the 
1890s. There are about 12 to 14 houses in each block. Out my upstairs 
front room office I typically see humans strolling by on the brick 
sidewalks and a few teenagers skuttle down the middle of the street when 
they should be in school. Possums, coons and the occasional skunk are 
frequent visitors on summer nights. Woodchucks live under barns and 
garages. Fox and coyotes trot down the middle of the street before 
daylight on winter mornings. Occasionally we have a deer or two grazing 
on the terrace in our front yard. Once, just visible down at the end of 
the block and kitty-corner across the intersection, on the front lawn of 
the school house, there was a moose.  Birds in our yard have become 
plentiful once the English Oak, Hornbeam and Cottonwood trees I planted 
back in the mid-90s got as tall as the house.

Hey, a horse pulling a wagon just came down our street. Clippyty, clop, 
clippty clop. Highly unusual, though when our house was built in 1899 it 
must have been very common. Cribbing on the studs and a few wisps of hay 
in the rafters of the barn show that horses were kept here early on.

There is a family of raccoons that has the peculiar habit of climbing up 
the corners of wood shingle sided houses, damaging the shingles and, 
when persistent, tearing holes in the soffit of the cornices and setting 
up winter housekeeping in the attic. This started here in our 
neighborhood about 10 years ago. During the 80s and 90s this same family 
of coons was doing the same in the next neighborhood over. I'm glad I 
don't have shingle siding.

John
www.HistoricHomeWorks.com

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>