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Life changes for everyone as we get older. We fall into patterns that are sometimes just that. Not good or bad ones, just everyday life ones. You don't realize most of the time that you are in a pattern until something happens that changes those patterns, and you are looking at your own backyard with new eyes.

This Spring and Summer, I have been watching my cloud TV while sitting outside and smoking a few times a day. The leaves on the trees offer the perfect window to the world of cloud gazing. I have seen the man on the moon morph into a dragon roaring in the blink of an eye while staring up through the leaves that form a perfect hobbit hole to the world.

One night, the full moon made its way into the hole, and what a sight it was to behold. I really need to learn to take my phone out there more often, but then again, it's like old TV shows. You have to be there watching at the right time to see what was meant to be seen. If you are late, you miss it, but you might hear about it the next day on the news.

I'm going to miss my cloud TV when Winter comes and the leaves fall. It will not be the same when you can see the whole sky.

Our yard had more clover this year because Hubby had surgery and couldn't spend every spare minute fighting his never-ending fight against generations of what his family deems' unsightly grass in our yard.

I giggled a bit watching him wrestle with the knowledge that this year, he just had to let the weeds grow. Nothing would be worse than hurting himself again by making all the men from his Fathers side proud of the well-kept lawn he has kept all these years. The words "It is just for one year." were spoken solemnly to him to keep him from the toolshed where all his lawn stuff is stored.

The look on his face when he looks out over the back yard is something to behold. Our yard is in full shade most of the day, so the fact that he can get grass to grow is a testament to how hard he works each year. Most years, I don't mind because it makes him happy to be sowing seeds, watering, and keeping a close eye out for the dreaded Creeping Charlie!

This year, he too had to turn to just watching the backyard and what went on there. He, too, watched the bunnies grow and also set his traps for the small animals that like to burrow underground around our house. I had to learn where the traps were so I didn't end up stepping on dead mice with my bare feet.

One day, while I was sitting outside, Hubby came home from work and proceeded to tell me he thought a robin was stalking him. Now, this statement coming from anyone else would have made me laugh out loud, but Hubby doesn't tell stories of any kind, except for fishing or hunting ones.

With a slight smile on my face, I asked How so? He proceeded to tell me that every time he comes into the backyard, this robin is looking at him and watching him, no matter where he is in the yard or what he is doing.

Huh...Well...Hmmm...

He then yells and points to a robin sitting on the neighbor's outside basement doors. THAT ONE!

It looked like a regular robin to me, but in these times, who's to say there isn't a stalker robin on the loose? While I watch the bird and listen to more stories about being stalked by it, I see that the bird is looking at my husband very intently. I was just about to say as much when the robin jumped up and flew straight into the siding of the neighbor's house.

I told Hubby that his stalker bird needs to take its eyes off him while it flies, because if it keeps flying into walls, it won't be around much longer. Next thing I know, the same bird was on the other neighbor's fence, and sure enough, it just sat there looking at my husband. How it flew so fast after hitting the wall was beyond me, but it was just standing there, not moving, looking straight at Hubby.

Come to find out later that night, he saw the bird fly into its nest in the neighbor's house eaves. All the poor bird was trying to do was protect their nest from the man wandering around his yard, not able to do yard work.

Any other year, Hubby would be so busy looking down at the grass, he would not have taken the time to look up at any bird looking back at him. Because of his surgery, his patterns had to change this year, too.

Sometimes the best stories happen in your own backyard if you slow down and take the time to look up.