The Wild Things - Part 2

For Part 1, go here.

Thank you for all your comments on the pros and cons of feeding the raccoon. I appreciate your input.

By the time that post was published, I had already made the decision to occasionally put food out along the back edge of my property. I sprinkled it here and there to make the raccoon work for it. He (or she) still came up on my deck from time to time, and if there were any sunflower seeds left from the feeding of the birds, he (or she) got those too.

I'm going to assume he (or she) considers my house and land part of the territory under his (or her) control now, and I'll be making sure I don't wander around outside at night without a flashlight and a stick and making lots of noise. 

There have been other visitors here, too: the ever-present deer, of course, a fat squirrel (possibly now one thin squirrel and a half a dozen babies), a chipmunk, a red-headed woodpecker, pheasants, along with chickadees, finches, sparrows, bluejays, crows, and mourning doves. I'm only surprised I haven't seen any robins; in the past we've always had them by this time of the year. The seeds I'm putting out are only a minor reason for the wildlife I see here. The red-headed woodpecker likes to pound away at a rotting tree trunk for insects. It gives me a headache just to watch all that cranial action. The other birds eat insects in the grass, the deer browse on the bushes and trees, and there are spruce trees nearby that provide cones for the squirrels and chipmunks.

It has been a cool spring here, which I am not complaining about, because I dread the heat. But the temperature has also made it hard to get out and do yard work. I've had deadlines at work, too, which limits my time outside. I really need to get out and at least pick up the deer and raccoon droppings. Not long ago I had workmen here to fix a downspout (a victim of the hurricane in the fall) and I could hear them swearing when they stepped in something. They probably think I have a dog and never clean up after it. 

I now have video of the raccoon gamboling on the deck, and of the chipmunk, who came right up to my bare foot one day. Unfortunately, I can't get them off the phone onto the computer - at least, not without help from my computer guru.

So I'll leave you with this instead:

I think I borrowed this from another blogger, I just can't remember who. If it was you - thank you! 

Have a good week, my friends.

 

The Best

Canadian songwriter, singer, guitarist and international performer Gordon Lightfoot died last Sunday, May 1.

Other folks have written better tributes to him and his music than I could, but as I read those tributes and recognized almost every title listed, I knew there was one missing, one I had always found unusually captivating.

Stray bits of the tune floated in and out of my head but I couldn't remember enough of it to identify it. Finally I searched online for his complete body of work, and the title jumped out at me.

"Beautiful" is a haunting, lyrical love song which I first heard when I was in senior high school. It faded into the back of my memory as I moved on to university and became interested in other genres of music.

Although my husband always said we met at university (and in fact we did), he didn't enter my consciousness until we met again at my first job after graduation. So I associate other music with him, through our early days together and the many years that followed until his death a little more than two years ago.

Listening to "Beautiful" now, I realize it encapsulates perfectly my feelings for him and for the best of our relationship, and I wish he was here for me to tell him so.