Last night, as I was driving up to my house, a fat black and white animal waddled off the driveway and headed into the woods. Happily, it didn't seem to be scared enough to leave its very odofirous scent behind it. I'm still not sure how many skunks live in the woods, but I strongly suspect a family has set up its own home behind my neighbors. Closing the car door and heading towards my breezeway, I watched two (or more) deer that had been catching a few winks under my other neighbor's apple tree rise and walk at a leisurely pace into the evening and fade to black. Deer and skunks I don't mind. But as good as they are for eating pests, I must confess that I'm not crazy about the bats. They swoop low over our heads and poop on the breezeway. I worry about the possibility of bites and other unforeseen events. Tonight I spent the evening with volunteers for our local conservation group, the Wallace Trust. They are trying to restrict development, preserve open space, and persuade residents considering selling their property or buying new land to get conservation easements on the open land that makes this such a wonderful township in which to raise children. Stay cool, I want to say to the deer sleeping on our lawn-don't fret, I want to yell at the skunk as he or she walks on to my neighbor's property. But I keep my mouth shut-they certainly need no encouragement to continue eating my neighbor's apples or stinking up our bedrooms when they feel like it. At ease in their God-given roles, they walk our sets with sublime insouciance, staring at us with their curious eyes, pausing for a snack or a moment of slumber, then moving on...to someone else's lawn.