Wrapping UP

Here it is the last day of January already and I've neglected my blog again. It's kind of been my pattern for about a year now and I know someday I'll regret it. I'll look back and wonder why I didn't write down some of what's going on in my life - even if it's not much. So I'll resolve to change all that from now on.

And I'll start by reviewing January. We had a lot of birthdays and I did manage to observe those at least but I didn't do well with You Capture having only participated once. Starting right now though I resolve not to miss another one.

I think I might have a mild case of that depression you can get when the days are short and the weather prospects offer nothing but snow and cold. This month, though, we've been pleasantly surprised. We had a snow or two but they didn't last. And since the last one it's been amazingly warm. In fact, right now it's 54 degrees outside.

When it it did snow a couple of weeks ago, I rather eagerly got out my bird feeder and filled it with the most expensive seeds - guaranteed to attract the most colorful birds. But unfortunately it attracted more pesky squirrels than colorful birds.

(I wrote about this same problem and how we handled it with a Hav-a-Hart trap last year here and here. We went on to catch quite a few of them and it really seemed to make a difference but last Fall I started to see more of them around again.)

So I watched the squirrels chase away any birds that happened on their private habitat and I watched all their friends and relatives join them. I watched them swing on the bird feeder and generally make a mess of everything. They even knocked down some of the little statues we have out there in their efforts to push off them and leap to the bird feeder.

I pretty much became a bird feeder nazi. When I saw those dang things out there, I would open the door and shout at them and sometimes even walk toward them in an effort to startle the brazen little rodents. Mostly they ignored me so a couple of times I even threw stones at them. I thought if just once I hit one, I'd feel better.

(Years ago I'd thrown a sizable rock at a squirrel in a tree in front of the house and I hit the limb he was standing on. The impact knocked the squirrel out of the tree and he landed on the ground and starting flipping and flopping all over the place. Finally he flopped onto the front steps and died. At least it looked like he did. We wouldn't even walk near him so we had to come into the house through the back door and watched in wonder through the window as he came back to life, stretched, and scampered off. Squirrels are very durable little creatures.)

Anyway, this shows you that my aim isn't very good but my intentions were pure evil toward those nasty little buggers. This winter then, we hadn't set out the trap but we were having an increasingly serious problem with the squirrels. One day I was happy to see five cardinals all around the feeder. Then they disappeared to be replaced by a squirrel. I stepped quietly out the door, picked up a rock, took careful aim, and I nailed it!!! Not the squirrel - my bird feeder. It broke and scattered all the seeds all over the ground and the squirrel and his friends AND relatives had a party while they laughed at the crazy woman who'd served the fabulous snacks.

Mr. Right patiently bought me another feeder and I pondered what to do about those stinking squirrels. I considered setting food out just for them so they wouldn't hang on the feeder but I was pretty sure the population explosion we were experiencing would be small potatoes compared to the one we'd have if we deliberately fed them. And I looked at squirrel deterrents but none seemed like they'd work with our pole and the one that was most interesting and looked the most effective cost $89. In retrospect, I probably should have gotten that but we had just gotten this brand new feeder.

Yesterday I was on the treadmill for 45 minutes and for each and every one of those minutes a squirrel dangled from the bird feeder. That did it. I set the trap and within an hour I'd caught the first one. Twenty four hours later, I've trapped five of them. And I've driven them to a wildlife refuge and a state park both of which are over ten miles away. That's why I should have just spent $89 for a squirrel resistant feeder except that they'd still hang around on the ground and scare the birds away. So that's that for the squirrels - for now. But I'm pretty sure there are only about three more to capture. We'll see.

Also this month I did another course of chemo cream on my basal cell skin cancer. I finished the course, saw the plastic surgeon, and was told to come back on the 15th of March for another assessment. I'm a little unnerved because as the days go by post-treatment, my nose looks redder and more blistered than it did right after I finished. I'm also experiencing a lot of weird sensations and irritations. I'm not sure what all that indicates but I guess I'll find out in March.

I also remembered that I haven't finished my Christmas Story series. I'll do that very shortly just as soon as I get a letter that is an integral part of the story. Which leads to another life changer for the past month. This is the month that I got completely addicted to Words With Friends. I blame that completely on Alec Baldwin and the news breaking trouble he caused because he wouldn't quit playing on an airline tarmac one day. I can totally see that happening to me. It's that addicting and just the fact that I don't understand why they'll only let you play twenty games at a time proves it.