Welcoming Fall on the Outside of the House

It has been a beautiful fall day here in Colorado with sunshine, a slight breeze and warm weather.  So, I decided to go outside and enjoy the nice weather.

It was also the first day in over a week that I actually started to feel like I was getting over my virus that has knocked me out.  But, when I went outside, I discovered, much to my dismay, that some overly brave and hungry voles, who are living under our front porch, came out and started gnawing away at my pumpkin.

 
They hadn't touched the larger pumpkin, yet.  So, I moved it closer to the front door, in hopes that they'd be too scared to touch it, since the cat likes to look out that front door.  I also decided to clean off our front step area and put out some fall decorations.  So, here's what it looks like now that I've decorated for fall.

 

My favorite thing is the Mickey Mouse ghost container, because it brings back special memories of when we went to Disneyland in California when we were registering Penny's adoption at the Thai Consulate in L.A.

 

I decided to hang up some Indian corn, but thought I had better hang it inside the front door, lest any squirrels or voles decide to feast on it.

 

That meant I needed to find a different spot to hang my fall wreath that Jay's mother gave to us.  So, I put a nail in the wall outside and hung it just to the right of the front door.

 

But, I'm afraid that the vole thought that this meant I was welcoming him to now come take a bite out of my large pumpkin that I had moved near the door.

Rather, I am very happy to welcome this guy to our neighborhood!

 

No, not the fake owl.  Look closely behind him and who is that you are looking at?!

 

That's right!  It's some kind of large hawk, perhaps a red tailed hawk?  If anyone knows, please let me know.  I saw him on our fence when I opened the back door on Friday.  But, he flew up and perched on this wire, before flying off.  I hope that he will come back and finish off the voles that are in our front yard!  Meanwhile, my method of trying to foil that plans of the voracious rodents, is to spray my pumpkin with a varnish used to spray over an oil painting when it's done.  So, I'll have to see if this deters the little critters!