Progress Report

Well I have finally put my house on the market and a few people have looked at it.  But the housing market is usually slow at this time of year.  In the spring things should be better.

L will be going to visit my daughter and family in a week or so.  He likes to take the kids to the
strawberry festival - which I have never seen.  The kids don't know so of course they will be wildly
happy and excited when they see him.  Sadly only one of them will be able to go because the other two have had behavioral episodes and are grounded.  I'm glad they don't read this blog because they might
recognize themselves.

It has been a long 3 years for me working on 2 houses, packing up one house, moving and unpacking, finding lost items, keeping up with bills, my checkbook,  kitties, visits to my daughter and even
grocery shopping is a pain (maybe it was, but now I notice it more) and it has been bitterly
cold and then it gets warmer. Then there were months and months of shoulder pain, major surgery, recovery and I'm still having a lot of pain in the shoulder.   We've also had some serious snow, and heavy rains, and then a little sunshine or a spring- like day. Thats New England - if you don't like the weather wait a day and you'll get something else.  But nobody promises it will get better.  We had a massive snow storm with hurricane-like winds.  It even had a name, in fact 2 names. In CT it  is called Storm Charlotte  and elsewhere it's called Nemo. It dumped tons of snow everywhere.  The roads were impassable, roofs were caving on some structures, the snow plow got stuck on my street and 2 more vehicles came to help get him free the first one had also become stuck.  I think they said we had almost 34 inches of snow over 2 days.

I have never liked snow even when I was child.  I do enjoy watching it fall and build up a bit,  but being
out in it is not something I'd willingly choose, and driving in it is still dangerous, and shoveling just hurts too
much.

Writing

I had some good ideas yesterday at my writing group, but I didn't write them down and now I can't remember what they were.  Perhaps the misadventures of my cats might be interesting or maybe the birds who live in my back yard and the ones who visit would catch your attention.  I have quite a few nice normal backyard birds. I have a pair of cardinales  but have not seen any juveniles, I have many blue-jays including jeuveniles, morning doves, grackles, titmouse, chickadees, and  one robin that I've seen and a woodpecker and of course  multiple squirrels.  The  birds watch me put out the seeds and ocaisionnally some left-overs.  They don't seem afraid of me and some of the birds come right to my porch area to grab peanuts.  It surprised me that the little ones can eat the peanuts but they manage.  I love to watch them, but recently there has been a little problem with a flock of black birds that is very large.  I would estimate about a hundred maybe a little more and a few large crows.  They fly in all at once and totally empty the bird feeder and scarf anything left on the ground.  I'm ashamed to admit that I chase them by making loud banging noises which must annoy my neighbors.  It works for a little while then they are back decimating my food supply.  So again I make noise - knock on the window, bang the door or go outside and bang a wooden stick on a metal tool chest.  They leave but return too quickly.  I may have to stop feeding them altogether until they find some other place to visit.  I would not chase them if there were only a few, but the large population destroys everything in it's path. My cats do seem to enjoy the entertainment factor, and I take one of them outside (undersupervision) to watch the birds and squirrels.The squirrels, by the way,  love the peanuts and even knock at my door in the morning to remind me that they are hungry.  They also like the sunflower seeds and munch on them all day.  The best part of all of it is that a few of the squirrels will take the peanut from  my hands and then of course run like heck. They also come when I make that kissing noise.  They know me now and don't seem too afraid, but they won't let me get too close, and don't like sudden movements.  I do spend considerable money on these little creatures, and in the summer I also have a groundhog, and some possums, once a raccoon and  so I leave stuff for them once in a while. The chipmunks will also eat the seeds and peanuts with the squirrels in the summer, but they hybernate in the winter..  I don't get to see the possum or raccoones eat what I leave, but if it's gone in the morning I assume they have eaten it. Years ago when my daughter was around 10 we did feed some raccoons who would actually come on the porch and take the food from our hands gently.  I learned later that that could be dangerous and is also against the law.  We stopped then. Back then there was no rabies in CT, but sadly now there is quite a bit and raccoons, possums and a few others I don't remember right now are carriers.   So I hope you've enjoyed this animal centered issue.