Critter crazy
The animals have been amusing us and taking our minds off things lately.
A couple weeks ago, mom had noticed a woodpecker in the neighborhood. She couldn't see it, but boy could she hear it. It was driving her crazy. (Admittedly, it's a short drive.) I got to experience him on Saturday the 30th, when he conveniently started pecking on the side of the house, waking me up at earlier than I wanted to be--something with a 5 or a 6 to start. Grr. The good news is that siding does not offer up what rotting wood does, so he moved along pretty quickly, but not before knocking his little head along the side of my room. This was not what I needed, thanks.
(When I did get up on that Saturday, I hit Day 3800 on the Wii. It was also the day to change the batteries for the Wii Fit board. Very exciting, I know.)
Dad has put some colorful flowers in planters on the front porch, and on Sunday last week I was looking outside and saw an odd shadow, something that wasn't very big yet wasn't connected to another shadow, like it wasn't a flower on a stem. When I got closer to the window, I could see it was a hummingbird. Hello, little friend! But he saw me and flew off, aw. Sorry, little buddy. A few days later, maybe Wednesday or so, I had been talking with my parents and went up to my room. I looked outside to see my little buddy flying up and down the evergreen tree. Wow, I'm so used to seeing hummingbirds look for food or water off of flowers; I wouldn't have expected it to try evergreen leaves. That was enlightening. It also made me wonder, where do the hummingbirds roost at night? I have been hearing odd peeping for weeks. It's a very tiny sound, making me think of babies, but once I saw my little buddy it made me wonder if that's where the hummingbird has its nest and perhaps that's what I'm hearing. I have heard a hummingbird peep before, and it's an odd sound, so much higher pitched than usual since they're so small. That would explain things, unless I'm hearing baby finches or something else on the tiny side.
We had a special mom moment on Monday. There had been a spider on the wall that ended up on the floor near mom's shoes, and she was kind of freaking out about it. She said something like, spiders have so many legs! Dad and I went, yeah, eight; it's pretty standard. My mother honestly had no idea spiders had eight legs and that was their thing, what distinguished them from other insects--"They're like an octopus?" Yes, mom, spiders are like octopi. Oh, my word. I swear to you, she stopped paying attention in science class around the sixth grade.
On Friday, dad was going to go outside but came back in for a hat. He said something about birds aiming for him. Yeah, dad, they're constantly looking to poop on you. Don't worry, it's water-soluble. (I mean, we had a bird for forever; you'd think he'd be somewhat used to it.) I'm about to tell him my camp story about getting hit by a goose when we hear scrambling on the pergola and lattice--there's a squirrel climbing around up there, and it's freaking out since my dad is standing so close to him. I am inside watching things from the other side of the screen, laughing. Dad starts yelling at him to get out of there, and the squirrel cannot figure out where to go and is running all over the place. He tries to hide in the braces for the pergola but dad chases him out of there, and finally he climbs up and over and gets away. Oh, my gosh. Silly thing.
The local squirrel and bird population suffered a loss on Friday as well--my neighbor had his trees trimmed. I think those trees predated that set of neighbors, like the first people who lived there planted them in the corners of the yard. All this time later, those trees are very tall and full and hang over into the other neighbors' yards, especially the one in the northeast corner. I could hear the saw while I was getting ready for work, and I was able to see the two workers in the one tree at the southeast corner. They were just starting on the northeast one as I left for work, so I didn't get to see the finished project until after I got home. Oh, my gosh, it's so different. You have to go up several yards before you hit smaller branches. Having watched the critters all these years, I can tell you the squirrels used to jump from our fence into that northeast tree regularly, and the birds liked to perch on those branches. At least the trees are still there, and there are still branches to hang out on, but for the one it's like half the tree is gone. Dad had also gone out to talk to that neighbor--he said first time in a couple years--to point out that some of the leaves on the northeast tree had black spots and mites. They were on the branches that hung over into our yard so it's possible the neighbor didn't know they were there. (The neighbor had also told dad that if anything should fall in our yard from the trimming, just toss it back over.)
Saturday morning, I'm downstairs talking with my parents about a possible future couch--they went to Bob's while I was working and found one they liked that should work in the family room--and I'm washing my hands to come back upstairs and type some more. I notice this robin that is trying to fly through one of the holes in the lattice. Silly robin! You are too big to fit through there! If you were a little finch, it would be a different story. The robin hops off the lattice and goes in the other direction, and I think I spot a stubby tail--oh, I wonder if this is a little guy. I finish washing my hands and mom is talking to him through the screen, basically calling him an idiot. Mom, that's not nice. When I got over there, I went, well no wonder--he's a baby. Aside from the stubby tail, the breast was speckled. Mom, he doesn't know what he's doing. The little guy managed to find a space between a post and the lattice that he could hop through, ended up in a planter briefly, then flew to a nearby tree.
…As I was typing that up (note: I typed this on Saturday), I could hear a robin outside, so I looked out the window and discovered the little guy on top of the pergola. His mom made a few appearances but the little guy is still up there, though he has hopped from the middle to the edge, at least. He's making some little peeping sounds but kept opening his mouth, making me wonder if he was thirsty. No--hungry, and mom brought him a couple worms which made him happy. (He's still out there and opening his beak again, making little peeping sounds, so I imagine food will come again shortly. Wait--hold up. Dad is out there moving the table and chairs to clean them, and when he moved the chairs the little guy flew away to the tree.)
A couple weeks ago, mom had noticed a woodpecker in the neighborhood. She couldn't see it, but boy could she hear it. It was driving her crazy. (Admittedly, it's a short drive.) I got to experience him on Saturday the 30th, when he conveniently started pecking on the side of the house, waking me up at earlier than I wanted to be--something with a 5 or a 6 to start. Grr. The good news is that siding does not offer up what rotting wood does, so he moved along pretty quickly, but not before knocking his little head along the side of my room. This was not what I needed, thanks.
(When I did get up on that Saturday, I hit Day 3800 on the Wii. It was also the day to change the batteries for the Wii Fit board. Very exciting, I know.)
Dad has put some colorful flowers in planters on the front porch, and on Sunday last week I was looking outside and saw an odd shadow, something that wasn't very big yet wasn't connected to another shadow, like it wasn't a flower on a stem. When I got closer to the window, I could see it was a hummingbird. Hello, little friend! But he saw me and flew off, aw. Sorry, little buddy. A few days later, maybe Wednesday or so, I had been talking with my parents and went up to my room. I looked outside to see my little buddy flying up and down the evergreen tree. Wow, I'm so used to seeing hummingbirds look for food or water off of flowers; I wouldn't have expected it to try evergreen leaves. That was enlightening. It also made me wonder, where do the hummingbirds roost at night? I have been hearing odd peeping for weeks. It's a very tiny sound, making me think of babies, but once I saw my little buddy it made me wonder if that's where the hummingbird has its nest and perhaps that's what I'm hearing. I have heard a hummingbird peep before, and it's an odd sound, so much higher pitched than usual since they're so small. That would explain things, unless I'm hearing baby finches or something else on the tiny side.
We had a special mom moment on Monday. There had been a spider on the wall that ended up on the floor near mom's shoes, and she was kind of freaking out about it. She said something like, spiders have so many legs! Dad and I went, yeah, eight; it's pretty standard. My mother honestly had no idea spiders had eight legs and that was their thing, what distinguished them from other insects--"They're like an octopus?" Yes, mom, spiders are like octopi. Oh, my word. I swear to you, she stopped paying attention in science class around the sixth grade.
On Friday, dad was going to go outside but came back in for a hat. He said something about birds aiming for him. Yeah, dad, they're constantly looking to poop on you. Don't worry, it's water-soluble. (I mean, we had a bird for forever; you'd think he'd be somewhat used to it.) I'm about to tell him my camp story about getting hit by a goose when we hear scrambling on the pergola and lattice--there's a squirrel climbing around up there, and it's freaking out since my dad is standing so close to him. I am inside watching things from the other side of the screen, laughing. Dad starts yelling at him to get out of there, and the squirrel cannot figure out where to go and is running all over the place. He tries to hide in the braces for the pergola but dad chases him out of there, and finally he climbs up and over and gets away. Oh, my gosh. Silly thing.
The local squirrel and bird population suffered a loss on Friday as well--my neighbor had his trees trimmed. I think those trees predated that set of neighbors, like the first people who lived there planted them in the corners of the yard. All this time later, those trees are very tall and full and hang over into the other neighbors' yards, especially the one in the northeast corner. I could hear the saw while I was getting ready for work, and I was able to see the two workers in the one tree at the southeast corner. They were just starting on the northeast one as I left for work, so I didn't get to see the finished project until after I got home. Oh, my gosh, it's so different. You have to go up several yards before you hit smaller branches. Having watched the critters all these years, I can tell you the squirrels used to jump from our fence into that northeast tree regularly, and the birds liked to perch on those branches. At least the trees are still there, and there are still branches to hang out on, but for the one it's like half the tree is gone. Dad had also gone out to talk to that neighbor--he said first time in a couple years--to point out that some of the leaves on the northeast tree had black spots and mites. They were on the branches that hung over into our yard so it's possible the neighbor didn't know they were there. (The neighbor had also told dad that if anything should fall in our yard from the trimming, just toss it back over.)
Saturday morning, I'm downstairs talking with my parents about a possible future couch--they went to Bob's while I was working and found one they liked that should work in the family room--and I'm washing my hands to come back upstairs and type some more. I notice this robin that is trying to fly through one of the holes in the lattice. Silly robin! You are too big to fit through there! If you were a little finch, it would be a different story. The robin hops off the lattice and goes in the other direction, and I think I spot a stubby tail--oh, I wonder if this is a little guy. I finish washing my hands and mom is talking to him through the screen, basically calling him an idiot. Mom, that's not nice. When I got over there, I went, well no wonder--he's a baby. Aside from the stubby tail, the breast was speckled. Mom, he doesn't know what he's doing. The little guy managed to find a space between a post and the lattice that he could hop through, ended up in a planter briefly, then flew to a nearby tree.
…As I was typing that up (note: I typed this on Saturday), I could hear a robin outside, so I looked out the window and discovered the little guy on top of the pergola. His mom made a few appearances but the little guy is still up there, though he has hopped from the middle to the edge, at least. He's making some little peeping sounds but kept opening his mouth, making me wonder if he was thirsty. No--hungry, and mom brought him a couple worms which made him happy. (He's still out there and opening his beak again, making little peeping sounds, so I imagine food will come again shortly. Wait--hold up. Dad is out there moving the table and chairs to clean them, and when he moved the chairs the little guy flew away to the tree.)