The weekend after Christmas we journeyed to visit Robert’s family for the holidays. The day we left, the state had freezing fog – the trees were otherworldly and kind of spooky, but beautiful at the same time:
We loved it.
Tandem Squirrels December 14, 2007
The squirrels are acting in tandem in the yard today. I watched these two red squirrels as they emerged from their nest, traveled around the tops of the trees and then landed under the bird feeder, all together. It was warmer today instead of frigid cold, perhaps that’s why they were out and about. It was surprising though, because neither climbed the bird feeder pole to pry the top off with their greedy little paws. Maybe the steel was too cold.
Evidence, Part Two November 20, 2007
If you see a fast little tiny gray mouse running around outside of your house near the foundation, does that mean that they are running around on the inside of your house too?
It’s cold outside and maybe they are looking to come into our warm house, since the house was empty last winter except for the mice and their insect friends, and poorly chosen paint colors.
I mean, he was cute and all, but I don’t want him running around my kitchen, or hiding in my pajamas, or eating our apple pies, or leaving tiny mouse turds in my soup. Maybe we should get a cat. Now I’m alone in the house and convinced I’m hearing mice running around. Oh, overactive imagination!
Time to call the Terminix Man.
Squirreling Away November 8, 2007
The squirrels are in high-gear around our yard.
They are running about, burying nuts and getting fat for winter. They have been seen hiding nuts in flowerpots, under bushes, and around our patio furniture. Like it’s some great Easter Egg hunt for nuts that will take place later this winter.
They seem to be leaving nuts everywhere – even on our detached garage window:
We don’t agree with this practice. I went to drive my car the other day, and there was a nut on the license plate ledge. I don’t drive my car that often, but goodness! It’s not a permanent fixture of the driveway, it’s a moving target! Get a clue, squirrels.
Men In Trees October 22, 2007
Robert’s been out-of-town for a couple of days, visiting his relatives on the east coast. So I’m here, for the first time, alone, in the new house. Alone. In the suburbs. All has been going fabulously well until this morning.
I woke up to the sound of chainsaws.
Chainsaws, at an ungodly hour. “WHO IS USING A CHAINSAW at this hour?” I said, (but I said it in a different way, with other not-so-nice words included)
I looked outside, and surprise!
We were the ones rude enough to be using chainsaws at that hour. (Hi Neighbors! We’re new here, don’t mind the noise.) The tree trimmers were in our back yard, trimming the silver maples. Not only in our backyard, but up in the trees:
Robert had arranged for them to come about 5 weeks ago, and of course, they were completely booked up with all the storm damage around here lately. He called them on Friday and told them not to come until he got back from his trip. He wanted to be here to give them the official tree-trimming instructions. Tree trimming falls under Robert’s house jurisdiction, along with garbage removal, recycling, and anything to do with the cars – except gas. I can get the gas. And festive tree-trimming at holiday time, that’s all me.
They were supposed to come on Wednesday. Today is Monday. They just started cutting branches off trees without even talking to me. Let a chainsaw be my alarm clock. And the wood chipper, which sounded like a jet engine taking off in our backyard.
You’ll recall that the reason we decided to hire tree trimmers in the first place was because of the New House Tree Limb Falling On The Roof and Scaring Pam Half To Death Episode, recounted here.
Here’s a picture of the ominous overhanging-ready-to-destroy-the-roof tree limb before:
And here’s what the branch looked like after – like someone had de-pantsed it and it’s now naked:
Poor Squirrels, who I’m sure are completely freaked out from the men climbing all over their branches and cutting them off.
Poor Naked Trees. It’s autumn, so as the leaves continue to fall, they will fit right in with the other naked trees in the neighborhood.
PS – GO RED SOX!
Is that an M&M? October 17, 2007
At a recent Target run, we purchased some delicious orange and black spooky halloween M&Ms for a dinner party we hosted at our new house.
The M&Ms were innocently on the coffee table in a glass bowl in the living room – festive, I thought – and easily accessible for our guests if they needed a bite of chocolate with their dessert.
The next day, while we were preparing to journey out of the house, Robert reached for a tasty morning M&M treat, and recoiled in HORROR!
There was a small black spider hiding on the black M&M, just lying in wait for some unsuspecting human to eat it.
Luckily, Robert saw it before he tossed the M&M and spider into his mouth.
We have a spider issue in our new house.
And a M&M issue, because of course, we had to throw all the M&Ms away.
Squirrels, Causing Mayhem October 11, 2007
We’ve proudly placed our little halloween decorations out in the front yard. We have two small styrofoam tombstones, a couple of skulls, and some hand bones (to make it look like there’s a dead someone crawling out of the ground). Nothing too fancy, nothing too scary, but a little indication of our halloween anticipation. We also have a little sign that says “BOO” and a skull on our front door with the words “Happy Haunting”.
We have two flower beds that flank our doorway, and this is where we placed our decorations. I have about five small skulls, all among the flowers, and two sets of skeleton hands.
Yesterday, as I was locking the front door on my way to work, there was a squirrel on our front step. He was literally two feet from my doorway, and trying to look around me, like “What’s going on in there? Are there nuts in there?” I thought that he might just come on in, and make himself at home. He made me a little nervous.
“Go on, shoo” I said to the squirrel. He looked at me, shook his head, and with a smirk, went to the flower bed to wait for me to leave.
When we came home that night, all the skulls and skeleton hands were strewn about, completely out of place, like the squirrel was saying “You won’t let me in the front door? Well, then, I’ll mess up your halloween decorations, looking for invisible nuts”
We thought we’d have to watch out for neighborhood kids screwing with our decorations. Turns out, it’s the squirrels we have to watch out for.
Conversation on a Spider-Filled Night September 28, 2007
“What IS it with this bed?
A spider parade here every night?
Tiny floats?
Tossing flies instead of candy?”
Wish we knew, but whatever it is, there are a lot of spiders in the new house.
Is that a Woodpecker in your birdfeeder? September 22, 2007
We’ve trained the woodland animals living in our yard. They lie in wait, watching the empty birdfeeder for the inevitable refill, and once we refill it – mayhem reigns in the yard.
Last week we spotted a woodpecker in the birdfeeder enjoying a snack. Here he is, adjourned to the adjacent tree:
The chipmunk was in the birdfeeder cage and the woodpecker would swoop in for a snack. He and the chipmunk were duking it out. Puddem Up!
Empty or Full? August 29, 2007
I like to think of the glass as 95% full.
And to celebrate, here’s a picture of the 95% full moon over Chicago last week.
Squirrels Cooperating, Rabbits and Chipmunks Living Together July 31, 2007
So the squirrel-proof birdfeeder has become quite the gathering place for the wildlife in our yard.
The squirrels are working together now.
First, Squirrel One hops on top of the feeder and opens it with his tiny fists of fury.
Squirrel Two stays on the ground, waiting for Squirrel One to throw him some goodies…
Then they laugh and laugh. They lie in wait until we refill the bird feeder, and then they call up all their friends to come over and feast. They are showing very human characteristics – working together, giggling, knowledge of time.
And now the Rabbit and Chipmunk are in on it.
After the squirrels have their fill, the rabbit and chipmunk come on over and eat the leftovers.
We can’t wait to see who else will come to the dinner party.
Hot Hot Birdhouse July 10, 2007
Here’s the birdhouse that we bought at Kane County Flea Market – made by a couple in Moline, IL. It’s really a bird condominium, notice the stacked houses.
It’s hot here in the Chicago suburbs – in the late 90’s, or is it high 90’s? Anyway, just hot, and not a dry heat, either.
While all of us were admiring the birdhouse, here’s the conversation:
“Do you know why no birds are in your birdhouse yet?”
“No, Dad, why?”
“Because there’s no air conditioning in there!”
Funny – my Dad is funny. Not only did we get a lot done, but we laughed a lot too.
Limb Update June 22, 2007
An update on the giant tree limb that fell on our house.
We borrowed our neighbor’s chainsaw, put on our working gloves, and went outside to deal with the limb. The maple tree that it fell from is about 50′ tall – we keep debating how tall the tree really is. As an exaggerator, I like to say it’s at least 100′ tall, but it could be shorter than that.
Upon closer inspection, we realized the tree branch had fallen on our already-rickety fence, and wedged itself in the top. Robert had to use a saw to cut it out of the fence. We dragged it into the yard, piece by piece.
We think this was the first limb to fall:
It was an already dead part of the tree. During our CSI recreation of the crime, we think this first branch fell onto this larger branch:
Using our Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass, the second branch looked a little burned – could have been a lightning strike that started the whole problem.
Robert safely used the chainsaw to chop it all up into 3′, city-approved chunks, and he put it into the leaf bags and out for the trash people. Our new suburb has pretty strict rules about how to give them garbage that we PAY to give them. That’s how they roll out here.
We’re going to call a tree doctor to come out and look at the maple tree to see if the other three giant branches that are still over our house are at risk. I feel like Chicken Little, I’m all “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!!”
English Invasion May 31, 2007
We have a beautiful bed of green ivy on the south side of our house. We are about 6′ away from the neighbor’s house on that side, and there’s a groundcover of ivy on both sides of the properties.
It’s unruly, wild, and deep green in color. The chipmunks live under it.
“Ivy”, we thought when we moved in, “how lovely – just like we’re in an English Garden” I think it’s English Ivy. I think I could have made that up, though.
We’re pretty new to the whole “nature” thing. We have a couple of houseplants, sure, but for the past 12 years, our lives have been filled with concrete, cement, and asphalt instead of anything green.
Now, I’m not so sure about nature. Here’s a picture of what the ivy is doing in our basement:
We may be new to the whole homeowner thing, but we don’t think ivy is supposed to be growing INSIDE of the house.
And Now the Squirrel. May 24, 2007
Ok, it’s on.
The squirrel just walked right over to the bird feeder, popped open the top, and put his furry little head down into the feeder.
Like it was no big deal at all.
I’m writing to the bird feeder company. Squirrel-Proof? Not hardly.
