Someone wants me to put the squirrels on a web camera. I am sure that has already been done.
Sassy and I came home from the Bark Park to a scene of alarm and confusion. Mrs. Ichabod was opening a package which contained a calming nerve tonic instead of soy butter, which we ordered. She was phoning the company when a bird, inside the house, fluttered around and tried to land on her head. That caused no end of excitement. The customer service agent said, "The nerve tonic is free. It sounds like you could use some."
Chris said, "My husband thinks he is St. Francis of Assisi. Now they are coming inside to eat."
I discovered the tiny nuthatch (upside-down bird) in the living room. I also noticed dry dog food and a water dish near the outside dog door. I hastened to point out how much birds enjoy dog food. Rescue groups use dog food for injured and distressed birds.
The bird flew to the laundry room, and I let it out into the garage, where it escaped into freedom. Sassy and I chucked some seed around the front of the house in a celebratory gesture, happy to be free of the feathered terrorist.
We had bats in the house in New Ulm, because thousands thrive in the swampy lowlands, eating mosquitoes. I learned to enjoy them, even when one surprised me by flying toward me in the basement. Mrs. Ichabod's story of the bat in the bedroom is somewhat embroidered, so I suggest dividing the alleged facts by ten if she happens to start on her blood-curdling narrative.
Starlings got into the New Ulm church through the chimney, no fault of mine. I extracted one from an organ pipe, where he expired while trying to escape, his head peeking out from the top of the pipe. Other starlings responded to my calm advice about not being communing members, leaving through the door I opened for them.
Starlings and nuthatches love suet, just as woodpeckers and blue birds do. Any bird who loves suet is also an insect eating bird. Although people devalue starlings for being so common, they are quite attractive and clever. They are voracious insect-eaters and also devour weed seeds. Nothing is more comical than a starling's gait as he walks through a garden, flipping over mulch or dry leaves to look for an insect. Someone who believes in Creation will let God's purpose-driven agents do the work.
