He spends his days looking at everything with a fair amount of intensity. Of course it could just be gas.
As for the deck, our neighbors on the right of us have let their property be overgrown with brambles and trees so it gives it a forested look and then to the back of us is a fir tree and a steep hillside that is covered with more brambles and large trees. While we are in the city, in the Summer is is incredibly green and sheltering. Quite lush really.