Thursday, February 7, 2008

February Already!

What craziness happening with the weather! Warm almost Spring like weather and then we get blasted with snow or sleet or rain? Late Sunday afternoon I was driving to a budget meeting at our church an notice light flicker. It was more or less snowing at the exact time so I thought it might have been car lights reflecting or traffic signals flickering. As I parked at the church it happened again, this time I was sure it wasn't any of the above reasons, so I begin to wonder if it was my eyes. When one of the deacons came in he began talking about the lighting. I was relieved to hear that others had experienced the same thing and it wasn't my eyes or imagination.

Life has been pretty hectic since our after Christmas trip to see the new grandson. I was able to get a new squirrel baffle and get it installed. Since I needed a screw driver it only took me an hour to get my Christmas gift of a set of new screw drivers out of the plastic container. It is nice to see what you are getting in the set, but the plastic is unforgiving and you almost need a tool to strip the plastic. After two slight finger cuts and an hour of effort I was able to release all of the set pieces and place them in a storage bag which was included.

We have at least one squirrel and possibly two that had learned to negotiate the old baffle on the bird feeder. They would actually use the baffle as a spring board to flip backward and grab the top rail of the feeder to crawl up and feast. This new baffle has them perplexed! They craw up, slide down, circle the feeder a couple times and then repeat the process looking for a method to reach the feeder. My wife and I get a small amount of pleasure out of watching them seeking to circumvent this new squirrel baffle! Well, maybe a little more than small pleasure!

The backyard has been filled with snow and not is almost a pond after the snow melted and the rain. I am surprised that ducks haven't landed. Our neighborhood bunny rabbit has really grown. It is larger than our cat which is getting bigger everyday. We are still having the Downy Woodpeckers visit daily and the nuthatches are frequently around. Many doves and snow birds (Juncos) and in the last two weeks we have seen a lot of starlings. The Red bellied Woodpecker also has been visiting.

One of these days life may slow down for a few more pictures to be taken.