Jan 152013
 

A month ago I decided to utilize a program to look at the analytics of my blog since the old one wasn’t working (and we had changed my site to a different server that appears to be highly finicky when it comes to what it is willing to allow users to access.  Think Hal in “2001:  A Space Odyssey”).

While I’m still trying to learn the techno-savy aspects of the program, I did come across a little bit of information about you guys.

Although I knew that you were a tad strange simply because you read the gibberish that I throw together and post as my life, you seem to have an infatuation.

With squirrels.

According to this fabulous program, the keywords that are used most that draw people to my site are…  wait for it… “Squirrel”.

Grand prize winner is “fat squirrel”.  Second runner up:  “ninja squirrel”.

Squirrel

Apparently, I’ve posted 21 pictures of squirrels (this being the 3rd time I’ve used this photo – the three “R’s” are alive and well in the Blogosphere) and who knows how many times I’ve used the word “squirrel” in a post.

Guess we can add 6 more to that tally, whatever it is.

Oh, and just so we can award the Bronze medal in the Weird Olympics, third place went to the keyword “teacher”.

Explain that one to me, will ya?

 

Jan 102013
 

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is over.  All those months of planning, prepping and stress over in a few short hours.

Now comes the Winter Blahs.  Those endless months of cloudy, cold days in the Northwoods.

Squirrel 3

Frankly, I’m already sick of it.

My body craves to get out of the house and do something.  Anything.  Unfortunately, what awaits me beyond the warmth of the indoors is biting wind and freezing temperatures.

Must.  Go.  To.  Happy.  Place.

Squirrel 1

For there I will remember that in a few short months my greenhouse will be set up with the promise of little seedlings sprouting.

The snow will start to melt and we will be teased by the taste of Spring, only to have our dreams shattered by a butt load of snow.

Fear not, because we are seasoned northerners that know that the longer days and warmer sun will coax those tiny snowflakes to melt, encouraging the hibernating plants to come out of their slumber and bring color to the world.

Squirrel 2

Yes, my Happy Place is wonderful.

Too bad reality gets in the way and blows it all to smithereens.

At least the squirrels are providing some kind of entertainment to get me through it.

 

Dec 052012
 

I think that everyone has those moments in life where they say “OK, now I’ve seen everything! ”  And I happen to say that a lot lately.

The latest incident was on Sunday.  It was a beautiful day and Rick was out in the garage working and he had the big door open.  I came outside and was standing, oh about 10 feet away in the driveway, talking to him.

All of a sudden this staccato high-pitched squealing came out of nowhere.  I looked down at the ground to the left of me and here was this rodent making a B-line to the garage.

No fear of anyone standing around, just on a mission to get in the building.  I was like “WTF?? ”  Normally little critters are going to stay as far away from you as possible, but not this one.

At first I though it was just a large shrew, but after I thought about it for a while I realized it was a vole.

Eww!  Eww!  EWW!

It’s a good thing I was standing in the opposite direction of where it was going because if it had been heading toward me you can guarantee that Rick would still be laughing, because I would have tore out of that garage in .002 seconds screaming like a little girl.

Actually it probably would have been more high-pitched like the vole.

 

Dec 042012
 

I waited a week or so after we got all the snow* on Thanksgiving to put up my bird feeders.  Actually, I only put up one for now because I want to hang the other on the studio building when it gets finished.

It took a few days for the birds to realize that the buffet was out, but come Sunday morning I looked out my window and the Swallows had returned to Capistrano.

Or rather the Nuthatches and Chickadees had returned to the Northwoods.

And a couple different types of Woodpeckers have showed up to nibble on the suet, which has me a little worried.  Not about the Woodpeckers, but the suet.  We’ve had temps in the upper 40’s for a few days now and that’s a little too warm for the fat to be hanging out in.  I don’t want the little babies to get ill from rotten food.

It’s December right?  December is all about cold and snow, right?  I think Old Man Winter is playing with me.

Or else he’s on vacation in Florida.

Oh, and the squirrels are back too.  And they are FAT!

Maybe they’ll loose some weight playing with the squirrel cob twirler.

 

*All that snow melted over the weekend from the warm temps.  The Northwoods is again the shade of blah.

 

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Dec 032012
 

Well, nothing got done on the studio this weekend.

No, we weren’t being lazy (much), but we were kind of at a standstill since the lumber for the interior walls didn’t show up and we hadn’t picked out anything for the floor yet.

Actually, it was a nice break for Rick since he spent all day Saturday on a service call and putzed on cleaning up the 4 ton bread slicer Sunday so that it can get put to work and earn it’s keep.

But his break is short-lived, because I picked up the new flooring today.  Yes, you read that right.  I picked it up.  Literally.  Since I had to go to Rice Lake for a dentist appointment, the Menard’s store down there was having a sale on floor tile so I volunteered.

And it wouldn’t have been so bad except do you think that any of the employees milling about would notice a little thing like me humping all that wooden tile into a flat-bed cart and offer to help?  Nooooooooo, notta one.  And that crap was heavy too!  Each container was about 50 pounds and there were 13 of them.  I about kissed the cashier when she asked me if I wanted help loading it into my car!!

Help was the operative word here because I loaded half of them.  And I broke a fingernail.  Down to the skin.  And it hurt.

*sniff*

So to make myself feel better, I bought myself a present.

It’s called a Cobs-A-Twirl and will be my new Winter entertainment since I didn’t get the other squirrel torture device toy made.

Winter just might be bearable now.