It's me vs Nature in my own back yard. Shortly after we settled here in Carol Stream I bought a bird feeder and a 20 pound bag of wild bird seed. I dutifully filled the feeder and hung it in the tree outside my back door. No bird went near the feeder for months. Occasionally a squirrel would hang above the feeder and brush it with his tail, then retrieve the seeds from the ground under the feeder. Finally the birds discovered the feeder and I had a few weeks of enjoyable bird watching.
Then, disaster! A squirrel climbed onto the feeder and caused it to fall and break (the squirrel escaped unscathed). I bought a new feeder that was attractive and held about three pounds of seed. I thought it would be much better than the original feeder. Alas, the bird seed streamed through this feeder like a sieve. The birds could empty it in about four hours by taking turns perching on it and brushing seed off the feeder to fall to the ground where it could be enjoyed in a leisurely fashion by birds, squirrels and the dreaded Canadian Geese. I taped half of the openings closed but only delayed the emptying of the feeder slightly. In addition to the messy, noisy and unwelcome geese I now had two big black crows pigging out and intimidating my target customers the small and more attractive birds.
Jack said, "You're not going to be able to determine which birds you feed and which you don't". You would think that after almost 13 years of marriage he would know that I consider a statement like that a personal challenge. I was in Target shortly thereafter and thought I had found my solution at a very low price. I bought a bird feeder designed for finch and other small birds costing only $4.99. I was so confident the crows were defeated I bought another twenty pound bag of seed as the first was nearly gone. The feeder is a tall narrow tube with very small perches each with it's own feeding port. Initially the crows were stymied. If they could manage even to lit on the tiny perches they were too tall to eat from the portal nearest that perch. I was pleased and sure I had outsmarted the crows which at last count were now six (I'm reduced to counting crows, I don't even like Cheryl Crow).
Well the feeding frenzy continued and it took the crows only a day to learn how to half perch and reach around to the portal on the other side of the tube. This made eating the seed nearly impossible for the crows but allowed them to knock lots of seed to the ground where they and any other unwelcome creature could get to it. There is a landscape and gardening store nearby where I can get expert advice on my bird feed problem, I'm not giving up quite yet. In the mean time I can quit filling the bird feeder, there's nothing those crows can do about that.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Wow, What a Month!
I haven't posted for nearly a month. A great deal has happened in that time.
Jack's appendix partially burst on May 8th after a weekend during which we thought he had at the stomach flu. Consequently he had an internal infection that made it impossible to remove the appendix immediately. His white blood cell count was 20,000 when it should be 12,000 and he had a fever. We originally thought he would be home in a day or two but he had to stay in the hospital for a week on an IV of antibiotics to bring the infection under control. That was followed by 5 days of oral antibiotics He will have the remains of his appendix removed in about 5 or 6 weeks which will be handled as an outpatient procedure which should be no big deal with him coming home the same day.
Jack got out of the hospital on Monday May 15th and went back to work the next day working half days the rest of the week. When Jack came home from work for lunch on Tuesday it seemed fun and I made him grilled cheese and tomato soup. When he came home the next day expecting lunch again, I was less motivated. However I made a nice save, whipping up a box of mac and cheese and leaving the house to run all my errands.
Jack insisted that I should fly to Florida on Thursday as planned so, I went. I hadn't seen my parents since March and spent lots of time with my niece Madison and nephew, Cameron. I flew back on Sunday and jack picked me up at O'Hare with the usual confurion and frustration of dealing with a major airport under renovation.
Jack's appendix partially burst on May 8th after a weekend during which we thought he had at the stomach flu. Consequently he had an internal infection that made it impossible to remove the appendix immediately. His white blood cell count was 20,000 when it should be 12,000 and he had a fever. We originally thought he would be home in a day or two but he had to stay in the hospital for a week on an IV of antibiotics to bring the infection under control. That was followed by 5 days of oral antibiotics He will have the remains of his appendix removed in about 5 or 6 weeks which will be handled as an outpatient procedure which should be no big deal with him coming home the same day.
Jack got out of the hospital on Monday May 15th and went back to work the next day working half days the rest of the week. When Jack came home from work for lunch on Tuesday it seemed fun and I made him grilled cheese and tomato soup. When he came home the next day expecting lunch again, I was less motivated. However I made a nice save, whipping up a box of mac and cheese and leaving the house to run all my errands.
Jack insisted that I should fly to Florida on Thursday as planned so, I went. I hadn't seen my parents since March and spent lots of time with my niece Madison and nephew, Cameron. I flew back on Sunday and jack picked me up at O'Hare with the usual confurion and frustration of dealing with a major airport under renovation.
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