![\"Front](\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0100146\/images\/2005\/05\/21\/IMG_2578.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI’m sitting out on the front patio early this bright Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chesley
\nwas off earlier to take part in some sort of Coastal Clean up project.
\nShe was accepted into the National Junior Honor Society and now has to
\naccumulate a certain number of volunteer hours. The early morning light
\nis so beautiful, and it is such a quiet and peaceful time before the
\nrest of the worlds awakes and starts stirring. All I can hear is the
\nhissing of the lawn sprinklers from the neighbor’s house. The small
\nplanes haven’t started taking off from the executive airpark down the
\nroad so it feel like I’m alone with the world.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0100146\/images\/2005\/05\/21\/IMG_2591.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
As
\nI sit reading I start to notice a few mourning doves mourning around.
\nI’m not sure what it is but they make me sad. Maybe it’s just the name,
\nor the sound they make, or perhaps that they seem so stupid. As I
\ncontinue my morning reading I notice one of the young squirrels we
\nstarted seeing after the hurricanes last year. I think that they were
\ntoddlers when the Hurricanes hit and their nest was knocked out of a
\ntree. They were so small back then that we could barely see them
\nhopping in the tall grass out in front. Now they have grown and it is
\ngetting harder to tell them apart from the other adult squirrels accept
\nby the way they come down from the tops of the trees to sit on the
\nlowest branch and chatter at us as we sit on the patio. As I watch him
\nI ask what he’s so excited about. It is then that I notice the other
\nyoung one, and up above him in the oak tree is another squirrel, and
\nlook over on the roof next door there are two more. Wow, and as I look
\nhigher up in the other tree there are two more chasing each other in
\nthe topmost branches of that tree. That seems like a bunch of squirrels.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0100146\/images\/2005\/05\/21\/IMG_2582.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Oh
\nlook, here comes a little chick a dee to feed at the bird feeder. And
\nas I’m watching her I seem a Blue Jay fly up and perch on a branch.
\nHere comes another jay, and now I can hear a couple more in the tree
\nout towards the street. The noisy Blue Jays seem to have attracted a
\ncouple of mocking birds to add to the growing cacophony of sounds. I
\ndon’t see them but I can hear the Crows just off in the distance.
\nProbably over in the trees in the neighbor’s back yard behind me. I’m
\nsomewhat startled by the number of animals that seem to be arriving.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0100146\/images\/2005\/05\/21\/IMG_2599.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
I’m
\nstill keeping an eye on that first squirrel as he is just above my head
\nand there is this disquieting feeling that he may jump down at me. What
\nwas that noise? It sounded like something big flying over head. It was
\na blue heron or white egret grunting as it flew over head. I’m a little
\nsurprised I haven’t seen the cardinal yet. He has been at Chelsey’s
\nwindow recently trying to peck his way in, or attacking his reflection
\nin the window. Hm, I’m beginning to become a little concerned about all
\nthe wildlife collecting in the yard here. Is this some sort of
\nrebellion, or are they all just happy to see me?<\/p>\n
Holy crap! This REALLY BIG Black crow just stopped in to visit the bird
\nbath. Not really much of a bath to this bird, more like a small puddle
\nto this guy. I wish I had the camera ready, but he’s gone before I can reach for it.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0100146\/images\/2005\/05\/21\/IMG_2596.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
It
\nis suddenly very noisy and the collection of wildlife seems to keep
\ngetting larger and larger. I’ve seen or heard just about every kind of
\ncritter I’m used to seeing no. Just when I think everyone is here I
\nbegin to hear the Peacocks screaming in the distance. Oh, and there
\ngoes a red billed ibis of some sort. I’m sitting very still, not real
\nsure what is going on right now. I’m beginning to think that the
\nsquirrels are playing some sort of game.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0100146\/images\/2005\/05\/21\/IMG_2601.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The
\nother day I noticed that the squirrels were sitting on the bird feeder
\nhelping themselves to the bird feed. That may not sound surprising, but
\na long time ago my brother gave Cindy this Wild Bill’s electronic bird
\nfeeder that keeps the squirrels from getting to the bird feed. It runs
\noff a little 9 volt transistor radio battery and the principle is when
\nthe squirrels try to climb down onto the feeder they touch the metal
\nhanger that the feeder hangs from the tree on. The top of the feeder is
\nalso metal and when they touch that part of the feeder it completes an
\nelectrical circuit and the squirrel is very unhappy. It is a mild but
\nstartling shock. It only takes one or two shocks and the squirrels give
\nup ever trying that again. After all the squirrels in the neighborhood
\nbecame aware they just stopped trying and I guess I got pretty lax in
\nkeeping a fresh battery in it. So I our young squirrels hadn’t ever
\nexperienced that shock and found that the bird feeder was a great place
\nfor food. Well I ran out and got a new battery and I haven’t seen the
\nsquirrels out there since.<\/p>\n
So I’m thinking that maybe these
\nyoung squirrels are mad at me for doing that and have decided to get me
\nback Somehow they put the word out and all the wildlife in the
\narea are here to set me straight. I wait to see when this
\ncoordinated attack will begin but nothing happens. Slowly my
\nmanagerie of animals starts to move on to somewhere else and slowly the
\nrest of the world starts waking up around me. I can hear someone
\nwith a leaf blower off in the distance. A small plane flies
\noverhead. Someone out walking their dog passes by on the
\nsidewalk. Cars start driving by, a pickup trailing a boat rumbles
\nup the street. Time to go inside and get ready for the day.
\nPlenty of yardwork needing to be done. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m sitting out on the front patio early this bright Saturday morning. Chesley was off earlier to take part in some sort of Coastal Clean up project. She was accepted into the National Junior Honor Society and now has to … Continue reading