December 15, 2015 by Born To Organize

Squirrels Stop by For Lunch and That Strange Polldaddy Link

How’s that for a catchy title, eh?

Before I get to the cute squirrel photos, I wanted to thank Lisa and Kelly for pointing out the odd polldaddy url. It started showing up in front of posted comments. Weird.

Originally I ignored it. These things tend to pop up now and then, then disappear without notice. Who am I to question why. This odd feature however refused to budge.

I contacted the WordPress Help team, and here’s what they had to say:

We’re aware of this issue and our developers are working on a fix! The URL is related to the Ratings feature being enabled in comments. A recent update has broken this link. If you’d like to avoid seeing this, you can disable ratings. Otherwise, our developers are already on it!

If this shows up on your own blog comments, know that a fix is under way.

Now on to the cute squirrel shots.

I asked one of the boys to strategically locate three tiny pumpkins from my Halloween display to the top of my garden bench. I knew the squirrels would enjoy the treat. The top of the bench gave me a front row seat to their cuteness.

Back in October, three small pumpkins were part of a display

Yum!

I love the way she/he’s holding on to the curled stem.

Double Yum!

Plump and happy, a bit like me after spending six weeks on the couch while helping myself to Hershey’s Kisses.

Footnotes

I had my six-week follow-up with my doctor this week. She’s delighted with my progress! I am free of the cast at night, but will continue to wear the surgical boot/brace by day. I’ve also started to walk with crutches. She wants me to continue the exercises and to begin to put about 25% of my weight on the foot. It’s painful to walk, but necessary for healing, so I’m following orders and looking forward to continued healing. I’ll be on crutches for two to three weeks, and if all continues to go well, I’ll be back in real shoes by early next year.

November 10, 2014 by Born To Organize

A Feast for the Squirrels

Smile! You’ll be appearing on my blog next week

Since I’m taking one season off from pumpkin farming, I had to do something with all those seeds. I prepared a feast for the squirrels. They’re not terribly fussy about table settings and I’ve never seen them use a napkin, so the work involved was minimal.

Squirrel Feast

After Mike finished his carving masterpieces, I scooped the pumpkin guts into a plastic bag and set them aside on the kitchen counter. My son’s friend asked why I was saving pretzels for the squirrels which made me laugh. I reused the bag the pretzels came in but labeled it ‘save for squirrels’ so that no one tossed it out.

We covered our outdoor table and chairs for the winter. I remain optimistic about rain. I plunked the squirrel feast in the center of the covered table so I would have optimum viewing.

The good seeds must be at the bottom

The squirrels came and went all week. At one point there were five squirrels playing tag and taking turns on the table. Many of the visitors were camera-shy. I did my best to hide below the edge of my window sill, but the slightest movement sent them scurrying.

At last, this female squirrel arrived and happily nibbled and gathered while I clicked the camera. Isn’t she pretty?

Look at those dainty ‘hands’

Over the weekend, Boomdee posted a clever YouTube video of a squirrel ‘carving’ a Jack ‘O Lantern. She suggested they might just put my husband out of business. You decide. 🙂 I’m pretty sure you’ll smile either way.

She’s keeping an eye on me

Thanks for stopping by. Our forecaster says rain by mid-week. Fingers crossed. What is your weather up to?

September 5, 2013 by Born To Organize

Frank and the Squirrels Who Loved Him

That sounds like a dime-store romance doesn’t it?

In this story we have no tragic heroine, just a sad pumpkin named Frank unable to live up to his potential after a careless gardener tossed him willy-nilly on to the walkway. Poor, poor, Frank.

There are no villains either, simply opportunistic squirrels passionate about (eating) pumpkins.

After Frank went splitsville, even a hardy set of staples couldn’t keep him together for long. The elements took their toll. Frank flat-lined. It was time to remove the staples.

Frank’s demise

After counting to three, I reached down and scooped up a mass of soggy pumpkin pulp and a handful of white seeds. The rest was up to the squirrels. They came and went for two days, but I never had my camera ready. The stars finally aligned and I took a handful of photos, below.