Nature Notes: Let the Games Begin

I knew it was too good to last.

A squirrel finally found the feeder. And what a squirrel. He sucks up seed faster than a Hoover upright and he is fearless.

He ignored my window pounding, arm waiving, hooting and hollering. It kept munching when I opened the door. He did not run when I approached the feeder to within six feet of him. That's about as close as I want to be to a critter that can crack hickory nuts with its teeth.

I retreated to the garage and armed myself with the pool strainer. It actually took a physical poke to the backside to dislodge the little pest from the deck railing, and he was back before I had finished stomping the snow off my shoes.

There was nothing for it but to move the feeder to a less convenient location, where at least his thievery is entertaining.








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Here Comes the Sun

Hey, we made it! Somehow, all the holiday stuff got done AND the days are getting longer! Seed catalogs have replaced Christmas sale fliers in the mailbox, and just knowing that spring is on the way is enough to lift the spirits.

There's something about this point in the year, when the dark days are done, that rejuvenates me. Everything comes clear again and anything seems possible.

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours: Happy holiday!

Let It Snow

Mmmmmm. Friday. My day off, happiest day of the week. So I'm sitting here, NOT going out in the snow, NOT slipping and sliding my way to work, and NOT scraping ice off my windshield at midnight. (I work the last shift.)

NPR's Science Friday is on, a program I always enjoy. Today there is a segment on how to grow your own snowflake. Interesting, but not exactly useful, as we have plenty of 'em.

The snow stopped today and the sun is out, but ice is on the way for the weekend. Ice is so much worse.

It takes a while to recall how to drive in all this; how to steer out of it when you slide sideways, how to take a hill fast enough to avoid losing momentum but slow enough to avoid skidding off the road into a snowbank, what to do when you go sailing into an intersection on a red light because you just can't stop. But hey, what's a day without a little adrenalin?

So anyway, I'm doing as much Christmas shopping online as I can. It's amazing we can browse web pages, type in a credit card number now and then, and just sit back and wait for delivery. Technology is a beautiful thing.

Snowy With a Chance of Horses

The neighbor's horses came strolling up the driveway this morning. They do that from time to time.

One of them, aptly named Houdini, is adept at undoing latches and opening gates, and he lets everyone else out while he's at it.



Knowing it would make his morning, I called down to The Hubby: "There are horses in the back yard, in case you're interested."

I could hear him scrambling into his Carharts. "Wanna help me round 'em up?"

Having just rolled out of bed and being still in my jammies, I declined. "No thanks. You go right ahead."


He really loves trying to catch the horses. Mind you, he's never actually brought in the herd, but he does get an A for effort.

This time, he set off at a jog around the far side of the pasture to head them off before they got to the woods. He succeeded in turning them around, and got hold of the one horse with a halter. Unfortunately, it was not the alpha horse and the others were undecided about whether to follow him home.



Things were going pretty well, though, until a deer hunter nearby fired a gunshot. With that, the horses were off and running. All The Hubby could do was to hike down to the neighbors and tell 'em that "They went thataway."