Dang overgrown rats

I love feeding the birds where I live. I do not, however, love feeding the wildlife rodent population consisting of bushy-tailed rats (squirrels), ring-tailed rats (raccoons) and long-legged woodchucks (deer). To this end, I am often running out my front door yelling like a crazy woman for the bushy-tailed rats to remove themselves from my bird feeders! A good bang on the window usually drives the deer off but the raccoons are a more difficult problem. I sometimes bring my feeders in at night but in the winter when it gets dark at 5pm the last thing I want to do is go out and fight with the hanging seed dispensers. To sustain my feathered friends energy as the cold sets in I recently purchased a new suet feeder to replace my two old raccoon-abused suet feeders. I clamped the opening shut with the hanging clip and hung it confidently from my seed feeder. It lasted two days and two nights and then this morning came...
My suet feeder was gone! In the past, the raccoons have yanked it down, opened it, ate the suet and left, but not this time. This time they yanked it off the chain and stole the entire suet cage! I imagine since they couldn't get it open right away they decided to take it with them so they could fetch their power tools! I searched my back yard and a few of the trails but it was nowhere to be seen. This is certainly a first. At least I don't have to worry about bringing it in at night now. Darn vermin!

Very Quiet

There's a few bird chirps here and there to be heard but all is silent now that the baby is napping. Even my three cats are passed out in various parts of the house. The breeze must have calmed because my wind sock is no longer whipping about on my front deck and I can't hear the flag pole squeaking. Just had lunch but the hot pocket doesn't seem to be holding me as my stomach is still grumbling. Not the best after taste either. Dang this laptop is hot on my lap even with my xpad between it and my skin. When they say laptop they don't really mean to set it on your lap unless it's a cold winter day and you don't mind melting your pants!

Autumn Leaves

It's almost 80 degrees near the end of October in Upstate New York and I love it. I prefer the more crisp temperatures of autumn but as this is the last nice day we might get for a LONG TIME I'm trying to cherish it. The sky is still that dark blue of fall and the leaves are multicolored and dry, it's just the temperature that's off. I went for a walk this morning with my daughter comfortably nestled in her JJ Cole Toddler Bundleme from www.amazon.com and it seems funny now that she needed to be kept warm as I sit in a skort and tank top!