HAPPY NEW WEEK! I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I’m taking a short break from work to say hello to you all and tell you about my new friend.
Every summer, I seem to have one animal who chooses to stay close to my house and keep me company. Last year, it was the little yearling white-tailed deer. This year, it’s an enormous groundhog! He’s made a burrow underneath the fallen apple tree next to my bedroom window, and he’s been spending his days puttering around my front porch, eating the weeds that I’ve allowed to grow.
He’s a formidable critter. A couple of decades ago, we had a huge groundhog on this land. My Mom named him “Bear,” because he was nearly as large as a bear cub. The current resident groundhog must be Bear’s descendent, because he’s a big fella! He has immense teeth (I think he’s fairly old) and long, thick claws. Despite his scary appearance, he’s been friendly to me. Groundhogs generally avoid people and can be hostile to humans if they feel crowded or cornered, but Bear II makes no effort to leave when I go outdoors. When I talk to him, he tilts his head like a dog and stares at me with interest. LOL He makes me laugh, waddling around the yard.
I didn’t try to photograph him, because I read that mobile phones and other devices emit electromagnetic fields that some animals, including groundhogs, can hear (or feel?). He looks like the one in this photo, though.
Groundhog, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia NPS photo labeled “Public domain” (copyright free)
Lynette: Legal drinking age in California is 18; you can get a provisional drivers license at age 15.5 and a regular licence at age 16 after 6 months with a provisional licence and after fulfilling other requirements. It's complicated: A provisional licence lets you drive as long as you have a parent, guardian or adult over age 25 with you. There are also restrictions on driving at night, but not sure when those applies....
Heather: Have a lovely time; hope you're happy with your new top!
Lindybird: The other place those dust bunnies like is the top of door fames. :-(
Back to my scanning chores......
Lindybird: Sounds like your OH is too busy to fall apart. We got some chores done yesterday too: Plumber came to put the grout around the toilet base and around the kitchen sink (how exciting can things get!). Doing nice smooth grout lines is not part of my OH's skill set. We also put up a large hook on the front porch to hang a short hose that is always tripping me up and I started in on deadheading the Iceberg roses after the first and very prolific bloom of the year. Today I'm off to a flooring place to see if there's any chance of matching the existing laminate flooring in OH's office and down the hall, then some other errands. The carpeting I swore would be pulled out the day after our cat departed for that great litter box in the sky is still here, but it's time to Do Something and it's up to me to get things moving. In a perfect world, I'd like to put in a nice hardwood or engineered wood through the house, but OH is having fits at the thought of moving his desk, file cabinets and especially his huge and loaded down bookshelves, which are attached to the walls (in case of earthquakes). The flooring people I've spoken to say they do all that but OH isn't having any of it! Sigh. So looks like a compromise is the first option, but not sure if it's the last....
Hope everyone else is well. I'm off to check the news to see what fresh hell the Orange Menace has unleashed on the country....
My OH went for his blood test, did three other errands in the town, came home, mowed the lawn, cut a section of hedge, then decided that it was time he removed the wire netting he had put above the fence all down one side of our property. The neighbours hedge is on the other side of the fence, and the new neighbours have let this grow much higher than previously. The netting was attached to the fence to stop Bonnie jumping it, when she was a teenager. Now, she is more solid as an adult dog and heavier, and her back legs won't "spring" enough to get her over the fence, so the netting can go. He had a bit of a fight with it, as the beech hedge had grown through everything, but eventually he got it off and then -- he cut the rest of the hedge! That was just this morning. He did sit down after lunch.... I've been throwing out my mother's books on antique collecting. They were already out of date as regards the prices suggested, of course (late 80s and early 1990s) but there are interesting pics. However, I have sold a great deal of her bits now, and most of what remains I don't want to part with. I certainly can't begin collecting any new stuff!! The weather meant that we had twenty minutes outside on garden chairs in between gardening, but it's been quite cloudy. I sympathise about getting proper grout lines, Annette. I bought my OH a small gadget for doing them right, when he first tackled tiling our bathroom. I also sympathise about your having to work towards a compromise on the flooring, it's a hard one to get right as floors make a big difference. I see that D.T. has been annoying the Mexicans again!
http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/wildlife-webcams/loch-of-lowes/
RSPB Giving Nature a Home