Crisp Morning
We were pleasantly surprised by the temperature this morning when we opened the door to let Max out on the porch at 6:30......a comfortable crisp fifty-seven degrees. Great temperature for our morning mountain walk.
Mark will be heading our way from Missouri after work today to spend the long weekend with us. He's registered to run The Firecracker 10K Race Saturday morning here in Murphy. We plan on watching white water rafting and kayaking at the Ocoee Gorge in TN, take in some fireworks displays, and whatever else he wants to do while he's here.
And on a more intellectual level...............
I have been trying to outdo the squirrels from eating all my bird seeds. Assuming I have a more complex brain than those lesser cranial varmints, I keep concocting new ways to deter them from reaching the feeders. The latest is a thin but strong-gauge wire strung between two trees far enough apart that the squirrels can't jump from the tree trunk to the feeders. Prematurely and with confidence, I bragged to Cliff that I had found a way to outsmart them. The wire is too thin and not taut enough for them to balance like a tight-rope circus act. No matter how many times the squirrels attempted to reach the feeders but fell to the ground, they got up and tried over and over. I watched them stretch and calculate the distance. He said snickered and told me to wait and see. A few days went by without any squirrels reaching the feeders. Then he stood at the porch rail and watched a squirrel manipulate its little body like a cirque du soleil performer right past the plastic dome and tin pie plate to its target. I am defeated.........for now. When I'm home, I keep a loaded water hose with a powerful nozzle on the porch and blast the intruders as they sit in the trees or try to approach the feeders. Plan B. Put the feeders on the top of metal pipes and wrap the pipes with barbed wire. Or maybe I'll get a cat!
Mark will be heading our way from Missouri after work today to spend the long weekend with us. He's registered to run The Firecracker 10K Race Saturday morning here in Murphy. We plan on watching white water rafting and kayaking at the Ocoee Gorge in TN, take in some fireworks displays, and whatever else he wants to do while he's here.
And on a more intellectual level...............
I have been trying to outdo the squirrels from eating all my bird seeds. Assuming I have a more complex brain than those lesser cranial varmints, I keep concocting new ways to deter them from reaching the feeders. The latest is a thin but strong-gauge wire strung between two trees far enough apart that the squirrels can't jump from the tree trunk to the feeders. Prematurely and with confidence, I bragged to Cliff that I had found a way to outsmart them. The wire is too thin and not taut enough for them to balance like a tight-rope circus act. No matter how many times the squirrels attempted to reach the feeders but fell to the ground, they got up and tried over and over. I watched them stretch and calculate the distance. He said snickered and told me to wait and see. A few days went by without any squirrels reaching the feeders. Then he stood at the porch rail and watched a squirrel manipulate its little body like a cirque du soleil performer right past the plastic dome and tin pie plate to its target. I am defeated.........for now. When I'm home, I keep a loaded water hose with a powerful nozzle on the porch and blast the intruders as they sit in the trees or try to approach the feeders. Plan B. Put the feeders on the top of metal pipes and wrap the pipes with barbed wire. Or maybe I'll get a cat!
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