Mad momma squirrel’s rampage continued for almost an hour.
Poor little thing, I did feel badly for her.
She was looking everywhere for her babies.
And then..
There they were.
Calling frantically for her.
So she came and got them, one by one.
Right past us, no fear at all.
I don’t know where she took them, but I hope it’s far away.
I love all our visiting critters.
But not when they want to actually take up residence in our house.
So…
Momma squirrel was not happy we’d disturbed and scattered her children.
Not. At. All.
Matter of fact, she was downright pissed. And as the husband was working on fixing that awful hole…
She was positively manic, running to and fro….
Climbing….
Perching..
Even trying to get in the house.
It was crazy.
But what she really wanted was back in that hole.
And as the husband worked, she watched.
See her up top?
The longer it went on…. the braver she got.
There were times I thought she would climb right over the husband to get in there.
She was one mad momma.
To be continued…
Saturday morning on Memorial Day weekend we planned to finish the baby barn remodel. But that didn’t happen, because I started hearing the scritchedy scratch every homeowner dreads.
Squirrels in da house!
I thought they were in the attic, then the walls… but finally pinned it down to the eaves. And I was certain I knew how they got in.
Please look at the upper right hand corner, behind the lights.
It’s been like that since we moved in…. 18 years ago. The previous owner’s gerry rigged spotlight installation.
Naturally, ‘Close Hole’ has been on the top of my honey do list for 17 1/2 years because birds have been nesting in there.
So the husband grumbled, and cursed, and got a ladder to deal with it.
Which is when I heard the scritchedy scratching…. somewhere else.
In this corner, under the hanging plant.
So we yanked back the bushes, grabbed a pry bar and started pulling off decking and lattice….
To discover the noise was coming from inside the vinyl siding corner post. I pounded and knocked and banged on that post like a wild woman and before long?
Baby red squirrels were tumbling out of it like a clown car. They were terrified, and scattered to the 4 winds… so we plugged up the holes and called it good.
Mission accomplished.
Well, not quite.
To be continued….
Squirrels have to be brave to cross the wide treeless open that is the bird feeder area of our backyard.
So we rarely see more than one grey.
Until there’s something worth having that is.
These little sparrows adore the boxwood shrubs.
And the woodchuck?
Still feeding, still fat…
And now?
Winking and waving as well.
This last pic looks like a little inter species communication is happening.
Although aside from the deer saying “Please don’t poop on me.” I’m not sure what they have to talk about.
Since the baby barn has been hogging all the attention lately, let me reintroduce you to my favorite spot to spend late afternoons.
Comfortable furniture, blooming pretties, a good book and a cocktail.
Lowers my blood pressure just thinking about it.
I planted this garden bed two weeks ago, took a picture and realized there’s a hole.
Damn… another trip to the nursery will be necessary.
How awful.
😈
Big barn dwarfs baby barn.
And it’s where you can find me most evenings in the summer, surveying my domain.
Cheers!
But ask I did.
I asked the husband to replace the mailbox post that was listing at a 45 degree angle and threatening to fall into the ditch every time the postman made a delivery.
But replace is not a word my husband easily embraces.
Instead….
He fixed it.
And saw absolutely nothing wrong with his repair.
The weather was perfect.
75 degrees with bright sunshine and a gentle breeze.
We’d spent the day mowing and trimming and weeding….
And everything looked perfect.
Lilacs were cut for vases and perfumed the air with the scent of a long awaited spring.
And we ended the day with adult beverages on the big barn porch…. where the only thing to worry about was walking back inside for refills.
Life is good.
It’s not like I don’t welcome and feed all our visiting critters enough of a variety.
Three types of bird seed, suet, strawberries, peanut nuggets, oranges, grape jelly, blueberries, nectar, deer grain, salad scraps, old bread, apples and pears…
Christ, I even buy special dog food with taurine for the foxes.
And we don’t have a dog!
So yes, I was a little peeved when I went to sit on the barn porch the other day..
And saw that one of them had done this –
And this –
As well as this –
On every single seat cushion.
Ungrateful little bastards!
Now that the Virginia vacation saga is finally over, it’s time to clear out the photo files.
If you remember… before we left for the Cape Cod vacation in November, the husband was desperately trying to finish the remodel on our baby barn from Hell before the snow started flying.
He started putting the siding on….
Which was a nightmare of non squared corners and uneven ground.
Yeah, there was a lot of that.
His answer? Plant a shrub in front of it.
He was still using his 1950’s power tools and probably wishing for a larger wheelbarrow.
Siding around the window resulted in some very colorful language.
As did turning the 3rd corner where things didn’t exactly line up.
Unfortunately that’s as far as he got before the weather turned….
And now I have to stare at this split personality horror show until spring.
In other news, our neighbor and her daughter fed our deer while we were gone.
She sent me this picture while we were in Williamsburg, and wanted me to know the child took her responsibility seriously.
And for that she was rewarded.
Flowers for mom and a thank you deer for her daughter.
That little guy cost me a fortune but he was hand made and too damned cute to resist. Look at those feet!
It snowed right after we got back.
But the white stuff sure does make a nice contrast for the sunrise.
We were happy to see our resident buck was still around.
He’s an impressive fellow….
And clearly his women agree.
He’s got quite a little harem going.
With 4 fawns that we know of.
Funny thing is….. as much as I love to travel, it’s sights like these that always make me glad to be home again.
The first settlement in America looked something like this.
And I have to admit the buildings were larger than I thought they’d be.
This was the church.
And I swear it’s bigger than the one in my town today.
I loved the thatched roofs on the cottages.
And we enjoyed poking around inside them.
Some of them were simple.
Some a little more grand.
Check out the armor on top of the cupboard.
Nothing like some weaponry over the dining room table to get the gastric juices flowing.
Speaking of that…. there was an armory.
And it doesn’t matter how many times I see these, I still can’t imagine having to wear them into battle. I mean damn, they make my underwire bra look positively comfortable in comparison.
Needless to say the husband was loving all the old tools and farm implements.
Yes dear….
Rusty metal…. I see it.
The last building we checked out was a communal kitchen.
And you know what I found… right?
Wandering at will….
Hoping something would fall off the table.
There were also fake cocktails, which is a rude tease to those of us who happened to be thirsty.
Hell, if these fell off the table they’d bounce.
And that’s not my type of cocktail at all.
Okay.
Now we’re talkin’….
River's world..... 