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21 July 2012

Hiccups

The last week could have been better. It seemed to be filled with incidents that tried my patience.

On a recent visit to the garden centre to purchase new plants, hubs and I spotted some small mats designed to absorb water off wet boots. The label stated that they were also suitable for use in kitchens. Since the mat in our kitchen was looking the worse for wear we decided to buy a couple. The colour was right and they looked ideal for positioning by sink and cooker.


They’d only been down five minutes when we noticed bits of green fluff all over the floor, fluff that had been ‘walked off’ the mats. I began to feel guilty for suggesting we buy the damn things. Anyway, after a few days of picking up and sweeping away hubs dealt with the mats by giving them a once-over with stiff brush and vacuum cleaner. Since then, and it’s been several days, I’ve only picked up a few green bits so there’s hope yet for keeping them.


Why don’t cameras pick up true colours? Those mats are green, NOT the colour shown.

oOo

In between rain showers I decided to go down the garden to top up the bird feeders. Two years ago I purchased a ‘baffle’ to cover one of the feeders. 


The baffle is made of a transparent and extremely hard material. It fits like a dome over the feeder thus defying the squirrel access to the bird seed. It worked well until last week when I discovered what the squirrel had done. He’d only been gnawing the edge of the baffle in an attempt to ‘eat it away’. I can only imagine the little beggar lies across the dome to do this! You wouldn’t believe how cross I felt. I’ve now smeared the baffle with Vaseline in the hope that it will make his little paws sticky.


It’s an ongoing battle between him and me. Actually we didn’t see him for quite a few days and now I’m wondering if chewing the baffle had made him sick ... (insert witches cackle) ...  I can but hope! A US pal told me about the Droll Yankees method of defeating the squirrel and for your entertainment and mine here is a short video of the squirrel fling. There is also a squirrel catapult but I think I'd draw the line at that.



There was some sad news that stepdaughter’s partner had been made redundant. They’re okay but readjustments will have to be made. Wish they weren’t so far away.


Then there was a disagreement with a WI member over the WI blog which left a sour taste in my mouth for several days, plus a feeling of why did I bother! I so dislike altercations.


Talking of blogs, with all this going on I felt pushed to find the time for updating this one, so I’ve decided to cut down on the amount of posts per week. For instance, I might leave the stories for a couple of days instead of one, which should please friends who say they keep missing them.  What's the betting I revert back to old practices when I find out how much I miss the daily contact. 
But you know, throughout the irritations and upsets hubs and I can still laugh. Just lately we find ourselves laughing at the silliest of things. As I look back over recent days, it makes me feel truly grateful. 

14 comments:

  1. It's amazing how agile squirrels can be. We feed birds, but the squirrels get most of it, which we don't mind as it keeps Molly occupied watching them.

    Hope this week is better for you.

    I'm back to blogging,

    Gill in Canada

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  2. I know what you mean about blogging...and it's very time consuming, but enjoyable. I laughed and laughed at that squirrel. I think they're clever enough to go for the ride just so seed will spill out, then they can still get at it on the ground! Hilarious. LOVE visiting your blog.

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  3. smiles..you do have a lot going on and its smart to cut back a bit if you need...i am on vacation this week myself so i may not be as quick around....that solution on the squirrels with the swivel on the bottom seems to work well...i was laughing a bit thinking of the first time h hits the vaseline...

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  4. Valerie, that video clip of the squirrel was HILARIOUS! And I love that it's shot in slow motion because you can see the expression on the squirrels face like, "Oooops!"

    GREAT idea about the vaseline!

    They're persistent little buggers, aren't they?

    Hope all is well with your stepdaugher. And I know what you mean because I felt the same way being so far away when my mother was ill back in March and not being able to get there until this month.

    Summertime is usually a challenging time to blog on a regular basis with people taking vacations, breaks, and just being more busy. Things seems to slow down in blogland during the summer, so no worries - I will stop by anytime you post - whether it's everyday or every couple of days :)

    Enjoy your weekend!

    X

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  5. Am I an awful person because I laughed so hard when i watched that video? Squirrels really are smart animals. But that one just didn't learn.

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  6. I love squirrels so I felt a bit sorry for the ones on the merry go round. The amount of seed that got sprayed out was alarming too. All that will grow beneath if the squirrel doesn't get there first.
    Anyhow, I'm sorry you had a trying week and hope that next week will be better.

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  7. I can see that squirrel hitting the dome and sliding off with a belly flop from the grease. It is a continue adventure when it comes to squirrels. I had a blogging friend who said they were going to quit for a month. Next day she had to show what she had just painted. We need to share you know!!!!!

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  8. That squirrel was deliberately doing that swinging to spill the seeds. Squirrels will never be defeated. I like squirrels, its just a shame they are so destructive.

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  9. We have a squirrel or two that simply climb as far as they need to and then jump onto the feeder tray.. lately one little buggar just looks at me when I try to chase him away.... let me know if the vaseline works.

    Next week will be better.. for sure !!

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  10. Hi Ron. Heehee those squirrels will be the death of me. I don't know if the Vaseline is working but I'll keep my eye on it... might get grey fur in there but not to worry...grins.

    I guess summertime is the time for bloggers to slow down. I haven't reached the stage of stopping altogether although now that things 'don't happen' it is more difficult finding things to talk about. My brain needs the exercise so I will keep going LOL.

    Thank you so much for your in-depth reply to this post, I really appreciate it.

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  11. Hope you have a wonderful break, Brian and I'm pleased you liked the bit about the squirrel...smiles.

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  12. Squirrels are wiley creatures for sure! Hope your stepdaughter and her hubby will be OK, it's worrying when people are made redundant.

    Laughter definitely makes everything feel better. :)

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  13. Thanks, Pearl. SD will be fine, but it's redundancy is a dampener at the best of times.

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  14. The squirrel video was so funny. They are cute, but can certainly be bothersome. We had them in our attic closets and had to set traps (no harm) and relocate them a good distance away so they wouldn't come back. Some would have just shot the little critters but we gave them a ride to another town.

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