I have to start CARRYING the binoculars I have, man...

Latest addition to the area's wildlife roster is what I'm pretty sure is a merlin. (I may have seen this bird or its friends a couple of times before, in fact.) I turned around when I heard something odd chortling up in a tree and got a fairly good view of a smallish, pale hawk with dark bars, brown-bagging its lunch, which was either a pigeon or the front half of a squirrel (I saw the silhouette of two feet on the lump...), which it then carried over to another tree after a few moments. I shall be observing this second tree more closely, because it looked as if the bird might have been feeding its catch to some offspring...

I like this neighborhood. Except for the part where I was out in the first place trying to escape the #@$$% block party that's still going on a few yards from my bedroom window. I really kind of wanted a nap, dammit.

...Crap.

Aaaand right back to stressed out as all hell after the discovery of a Suspicious Freckle I Really Don't Remember Being There and subsequent fight with Mum over whether the proper initial response to such a discovery is, A) "it's probably nothing but let's make sure ASAP", or, B) "it's nothing and therefore no action (that will cost money) is warranted in the immediate term". And granted, as to money, there still isn't any, but I still don't think that an appeal to poverty is the best way to talk someone down from OMG WAS THAT THERE BEFORE. I think I've got her talked round on the "dude, that is one part of me that occasionally sees sunlight" and "we'll sort something out RE getting that looked at" points, but we're still pretty far apart so far as her placing much value on my overall state of mind feels to me. Am I being unreasonable to say that part of what helps me cope with a situation like this is some evidence that my concerns are being taken seriously?