All creatures great and small

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

Cecil F. Alexander, Hymns for Little Children, 1848

This morning my breakfast coffee-time viewing gave me a doe wandering around in the back -- this time without a fawn at her heels, and a squirrel scaling the bird feeder.

When Peggy and Rich gave us the birdfeeder for Christmas, part of Tom's grumbling had to do with how to make it squirrel-proof and cat-proof. He got one that I guess would be optimistically described as squirrel-resistant. He placed it atop a tall four-by-four that he then covered with a piece of drainpipe, or some such thing. Until this morning, it seemed to be working. It certainly has kept the cats away from the main feeder and the hanging finch feeder Tom put on the shepherd's crook he had fastened alongside the main pole. But an energetic squirrel discovered this morning that the bolts Tom had used to fasten the crook to the pole were adequate footholds for him to make it up and grab onto the feeder, although he did tend to slip and slide around trying to hang on. Tom was muttering about shooting it when I took off for the office.

Along the way I saw turkeys, but nothing much more exotic than that.

When I got back, Tom had removed the center fastener that held the shepherd's crook. He is playing a waiting game now to see what happens next. I also notice that the flamingos, which were down away from the house last night, have congregated near the bird feeder. Whether they are there as ornaments or as a squirrel deterrent, I don't know.

Further reports as events warrant...