Monday, September 12, 2005
A Desperate Season
The end of summer is in the air: the cool nights, the first of the changing leaves, the insane wildlife...
As the weather cools, things are heating up in the animal and insect kingdoms, methinks because they sense the end of their gathering season (or their lives, in the case of insects).
We've all noticed the wasps have grown increasingly daring and "in-your-face" lately (I seem to use that expression a lot on this blog.) But in recent days I have had a bird in my kitchen, sitting under my table eating crumbs and a squirrel sauntering around my house looking for food while I did my crossword in the morning. Now, this home invasion is partly my own fault: I like to feed the birds and squirrels on my back porch, just outside the kitchen. I feed them good stuff, nuts and sunflower seeds and stuff, and the baby and I get a little nature show while they get a nutricious snack. But it has emboldened the little buggers!
Yesterday was the proverbial straw that broke, etc... I had baked a beautiful banana-walnut bread and took it out of the oven before we sat down to our lunch. I put it out on the porch railing to cool, something I've been doing for years. When we'd finished eating I went out to get the banana loaf and lo, there was a squirrel straddling the loaf pan, clawing at the top of the bread and extracting the walnuts! Of course I didn't take all this in at the time. What I saw was a squirrel humping my banana bread and so I screamed very loudly.
The family came running and we all laughed heartily, if a little nervously. Then we discussed what we should do, because, you know, we really wanted to eat that banana bread. The following conversation ensued:
Daughter: "I guess we could cut the top off, the part that touched the squirrel's, um...."
Me: "Undercarriage?"
Daughter: "No. His little hands, or paws or whatever."
Me: "Oh. Yeah."
Daughter: "What's an undercarriage?"
Me: "Never mind." (Thinking: If you'd seen what I saw, you wouldn't have to ask.)
Me: "Let's just eat it."
Everybody: "Okay."
The end of summer is in the air: the cool nights, the first of the changing leaves, the insane wildlife...
As the weather cools, things are heating up in the animal and insect kingdoms, methinks because they sense the end of their gathering season (or their lives, in the case of insects).
We've all noticed the wasps have grown increasingly daring and "in-your-face" lately (I seem to use that expression a lot on this blog.) But in recent days I have had a bird in my kitchen, sitting under my table eating crumbs and a squirrel sauntering around my house looking for food while I did my crossword in the morning. Now, this home invasion is partly my own fault: I like to feed the birds and squirrels on my back porch, just outside the kitchen. I feed them good stuff, nuts and sunflower seeds and stuff, and the baby and I get a little nature show while they get a nutricious snack. But it has emboldened the little buggers!
Yesterday was the proverbial straw that broke, etc... I had baked a beautiful banana-walnut bread and took it out of the oven before we sat down to our lunch. I put it out on the porch railing to cool, something I've been doing for years. When we'd finished eating I went out to get the banana loaf and lo, there was a squirrel straddling the loaf pan, clawing at the top of the bread and extracting the walnuts! Of course I didn't take all this in at the time. What I saw was a squirrel humping my banana bread and so I screamed very loudly.
The family came running and we all laughed heartily, if a little nervously. Then we discussed what we should do, because, you know, we really wanted to eat that banana bread. The following conversation ensued:
Daughter: "I guess we could cut the top off, the part that touched the squirrel's, um...."
Me: "Undercarriage?"
Daughter: "No. His little hands, or paws or whatever."
Me: "Oh. Yeah."
Daughter: "What's an undercarriage?"
Me: "Never mind." (Thinking: If you'd seen what I saw, you wouldn't have to ask.)
Me: "Let's just eat it."
Everybody: "Okay."
# posted by becca : 7:35 AM
