Monday Meanderings - 6.30.2014

A long time ago, I wrote about our on-going battle with the squirrels over the bird feeders. No matter what we did, it seemed, we could not prevent the squirrels from raiding the feeders and chasing off the birds. I posted this video, suggesting that this might be the best weapon in the squirrel wars.


We finally found some feeders that were, at best, squirrel resistant, and for several years we have achieved a stand-off.

No more.

The other morning we came out to find that Mr. Squirrel had pried up a corner of the cap, exposing an edge of the plastic tubing, gnawed a hole big enough for him to crawl into the tube, and standing on his head, calmly ate his way through a half-pound of birdseed!

Do you see the appendage sticking out to the left of the top of the feeder? That's a hind leg - the only part of him that is not stuffed into the interior! Look closely and you can see him inside the upper half of the feeder.

And he can extricate himself quickly, if need be. Say, if someone were rushing outside to punish him for this egregious behavior. I can only hope that he stuffs himself to the point that he can no longer exit gracefully. And do not think that you have won the war, Mr. Squirrel. This battle, maybe. The war, no way!

One of the benefits of retirement is that you get to sleep as late as you want. You do have to be careful making appointments and such; from time to time someone will suggest that I can see Dr. So-and-so at 8:30AM, or even 8:00! That's just crazy talk. For a while there, it was working out nicely, but I think the cruise put a big hickey in my internal clock.

This time of year, the sun sets in that part of Alaska about 10PM and rises about 4AM. Problem is, it doesn't actually get dark until midnight or so, and it is already getting light at 4AM, and if it is light outside, there are things to see. Additionally, they are on Alaskan Daylight Savings Time, which is 4 hours earlier than real time here in Texas. So now I'm messed up time-wise and keep waking up early. Much too early. Maybe I need to go spend some time where the sunrise is at a decent hour. Say, 10AM. Yeah, that's the ticket.