Squirrelly on a Sunday
Wild Kingdom is back for another season. I suppose it never left, but it's pretty active right now.
It started at breakfast. A chipmunk was sniffing around on the deck while dad and I were eating. He'd cooked for him and mom, and while he was cooking, I kept noticing movement on the other side of the lattice. At first I thought it was the chipmunk, who hung around for a while, but it ended up being multiple little tiny birds. Dad couldn't see from his vantage point, but once he sat down to eat, he could see about a half-dozen of them picking the seeds from a weed growing in one of the flower pots. He has yet to plant anything this year and those birds are going to miss that greenery once he cleans it out. Meanwhile, Chippy kept sniffing around. Dad, he knows you made breakfast. He can smell it.
Later, for lunch, I decided to go outside. It was warm and sunny, finally. I get out there and I keep hearing this sound of scrambling on wood. I honestly thought something was up on the rafters above the deck, but it ended up being squirrels in the tree on the north side of the yard. I could see one sitting still as a statue on one of the branches, and others moving about the branches--more that the branches were flailing, rather than seeing the squirrels themselves--and finally one skinny limb toward the ground appeared to have a relative lot of weight on it, and off hops a squirrel, and then the next thing I know there's a stampede down the tree trunk. Five freaking squirrels then started chasing each other along the north side of our yard. If you've ever wanted to know what squirrel parkour looked like, that was it. Up the fence. Down the fence. Around the tree. Up and over the wheelbarrow and the old wooden frame nearby. One squirrel went down on my neighbors' side of the fence, then reappeared from under the bay window of the dining room. Minutes of entertainment, I'm telling you. They were hilarious and not quiet. All the little chitterings were pretty amusing. I kind of wish I'd recorded it. Then, a bit later, one of the squirrels decides he wants to come explore the deck--as I'm sitting there. Like, made a beeline over to my chair. Went under it, as I was sitting on it. I ended up moving my leg, lest I get nibbled on, and the squirrel reacted like OH CRAP HUMAN ABORT ABORT ABORT! and ran back off the deck. Doofus.
There was also a flying doofus above my head. I was hearing this buzzing sound and thought it was a bee or wasp, since we have some of those around the deck. Nope--dragonfly. I'd just said to dad that I'd seen my first one on my way to work last week, and he hadn't seen any. He was on the side of the house at the time and came over to watch me trying to help it out. He put this netting over the pergola to provide a little shade, and the dragonfly was trying to get to the open air but didn't realize it couldn't go through the net. I grabbed a broom and was poking near it with the handle, trying to see if I could coax the dragonfly in the right direction; not effective. Dad said to use the other end, so I held the bristle end up, pushing up on the netting, which would've given the dragonfly enough room to fly toward the opening on the end if it had any wherewithal. Nope. But eventually it climbed onto the bristles, and I brought the broom down, thinking it would fly off to the side toward the open air. Nope. Flew straight up, back into the netting. Dude, come on. I managed to get it on the bristles a second time and this time took the broom out and away from the pergola, and this time it achieved success. Phew.
Finally, more birds. They're so happy when it's sunny outside. They were very chirpy today. I could see some small birds going in and out of our bird-shaped birdhouse; dad then commented, I haven't seen anyone using the new trailer birdhouse. Literally right then and there, a different little bird went inside the trailer. We can tell it's being used because there's a twig sticking out of it, but usually the entrance hole is facing away. It happened to turn to face our direction at that point. I also saw a chickadee crabbing at a finch; I believe the chickadee was the first inhabitant of the bird birdhouse and the finches are now squatting.
It started at breakfast. A chipmunk was sniffing around on the deck while dad and I were eating. He'd cooked for him and mom, and while he was cooking, I kept noticing movement on the other side of the lattice. At first I thought it was the chipmunk, who hung around for a while, but it ended up being multiple little tiny birds. Dad couldn't see from his vantage point, but once he sat down to eat, he could see about a half-dozen of them picking the seeds from a weed growing in one of the flower pots. He has yet to plant anything this year and those birds are going to miss that greenery once he cleans it out. Meanwhile, Chippy kept sniffing around. Dad, he knows you made breakfast. He can smell it.
Later, for lunch, I decided to go outside. It was warm and sunny, finally. I get out there and I keep hearing this sound of scrambling on wood. I honestly thought something was up on the rafters above the deck, but it ended up being squirrels in the tree on the north side of the yard. I could see one sitting still as a statue on one of the branches, and others moving about the branches--more that the branches were flailing, rather than seeing the squirrels themselves--and finally one skinny limb toward the ground appeared to have a relative lot of weight on it, and off hops a squirrel, and then the next thing I know there's a stampede down the tree trunk. Five freaking squirrels then started chasing each other along the north side of our yard. If you've ever wanted to know what squirrel parkour looked like, that was it. Up the fence. Down the fence. Around the tree. Up and over the wheelbarrow and the old wooden frame nearby. One squirrel went down on my neighbors' side of the fence, then reappeared from under the bay window of the dining room. Minutes of entertainment, I'm telling you. They were hilarious and not quiet. All the little chitterings were pretty amusing. I kind of wish I'd recorded it. Then, a bit later, one of the squirrels decides he wants to come explore the deck--as I'm sitting there. Like, made a beeline over to my chair. Went under it, as I was sitting on it. I ended up moving my leg, lest I get nibbled on, and the squirrel reacted like OH CRAP HUMAN ABORT ABORT ABORT! and ran back off the deck. Doofus.
There was also a flying doofus above my head. I was hearing this buzzing sound and thought it was a bee or wasp, since we have some of those around the deck. Nope--dragonfly. I'd just said to dad that I'd seen my first one on my way to work last week, and he hadn't seen any. He was on the side of the house at the time and came over to watch me trying to help it out. He put this netting over the pergola to provide a little shade, and the dragonfly was trying to get to the open air but didn't realize it couldn't go through the net. I grabbed a broom and was poking near it with the handle, trying to see if I could coax the dragonfly in the right direction; not effective. Dad said to use the other end, so I held the bristle end up, pushing up on the netting, which would've given the dragonfly enough room to fly toward the opening on the end if it had any wherewithal. Nope. But eventually it climbed onto the bristles, and I brought the broom down, thinking it would fly off to the side toward the open air. Nope. Flew straight up, back into the netting. Dude, come on. I managed to get it on the bristles a second time and this time took the broom out and away from the pergola, and this time it achieved success. Phew.
Finally, more birds. They're so happy when it's sunny outside. They were very chirpy today. I could see some small birds going in and out of our bird-shaped birdhouse; dad then commented, I haven't seen anyone using the new trailer birdhouse. Literally right then and there, a different little bird went inside the trailer. We can tell it's being used because there's a twig sticking out of it, but usually the entrance hole is facing away. It happened to turn to face our direction at that point. I also saw a chickadee crabbing at a finch; I believe the chickadee was the first inhabitant of the bird birdhouse and the finches are now squatting.