nature and suburban juxtaposition

I consider myself an outdoorsy kind of gal. I like to exercise (hike, paddle or walk), work (don't get to do this) and finally, dine, al fresco. To me there is something very freeing about this. Yet despite all my outdoorsisness, I have a very indoors nature as well. I can't pee in the woods. I can't sleep in the woods. I can't have a proper shower in the woods. I don't like flying, squirming, hissing, buzzing, swimming or generally unknown things around me. In my quirky book there are inside things and there are outside things and the twain should never meet.

To a certain extent the same goes (we're talking about MY book) for the country life and the suburban life. I get a little un-nerved and yet somewhat comforted when the boundaries cross.

Un-nerved:

- A co-worker's husband and son recently brought home a PYTHON. They called this evil incarnate thing a "pet". Said pet slithered out of it's cage and was loose in the house. This is the creepiest thing I can imagine and a clear signal that the outdoors does not need to be in.

- A friend had an electrician over to fix her attic fans. He found a dead BAT stuck on one of the fan blades. E-GADS! The idea of a bat in the house is almost as creepy as a snake.

- My friend CK's dogs recently killed a ground hog (she thinks) in two seconds flat. Granted, this was in the yard but still, it was inside the confines of their sanctuary.
I KNOW I could not have scooped that thing up for disposal. (I know this because one time a neighborhood cat left me a vole as a present on my patio. I got out the shovel. I tried to scoop it up but I was too creeped out. I transferred my creeped out-id-ness by digging a hole. Then I called my neighbor and had her shovel the eyeless thing into it's "grave".)

Comforting:

- After dinner last night I was sitting on the porch with my friends from the L family (they live in the high rent district of my neighborhood). A beautiful doe and her cute little fawn ambled into the yard. They scavenged around for awhile and then gracefully frolicked back into the woods.

- I was sitting out on my deck earlier this evening and watched two cute and very amorous bunny rabbits. Now I suppose I'll get to see several more little bunny rabbits in the weeks to come.