Random Thoughts On Monday…

Let me begin the week by wishing someone special a very happy birthday! Our youngest son, Brad, was born, thirty-one years ago, today. Brad was a very welcomed surprise addition to the family, and our family wouldn’t be the same without him.  Delivering Brad proved to be difficult (10 lbs, 9 oz. natural childbirth), but raising Brad was easy. He was a delightful, easy-going, baby and child, always willing to go along with whatever his siblings wanted to do.

Brad made good grades in school (except for the year he refused to do a required project, and had to repeat the class), and worked his way through high school and college, at a local bank, paying most of his tuition costs, himself. Brad’s easy-going personality kicked into overdrive during adolescence, and he got along well with everyone.   My chief complaints with Brad, as a teen, were these: his room was always a mess, he was tardy to high school a lot, and he was [and still is] a procrastinator.

The years have flown by, and now our baby boy is a grown man with a family of his own. In fact, we took note, this weekend, when we celebrated his birthday a little early, that, on this birthday, Brad is [almost] one-half as old as his mama!  I celebrated my 31st birthday, shortly after giving birth to him.

Happy Birthday, Brad!

In other news, I’m happy to report that Ed mowed down most of our garden over the weekend! I don’t know which one of us was the happiest to see it go, but it’s gone.  The last of our tomatoes are in the kitchen, still waiting to be canned, but, after that, we’re done!  Look out beach, here we come–as soon as I am able to travel!  I haven’t been feeling my best, lately.

Man, this summer heat is really oppressive!  Being outside is miserable, unless you go out first thing every morning, which I do.  Once I finish with my chores, I just stay inside until late in the afternoons.  Ed spends more time outside than I do, but the heat doesn’t seem to bother him as much as it does me.  I’m hoping the temperatures will be a little milder under our favorite oak tree at St. Simon’s Island, when I get there.  The highs are supposed to be in the upper 90’s all of this week.

We’ve had a couple of news worthy incidents happen in our area, lately.  First of all, a few days ago, our oldest son spotted a rattle snake crossing the road beside his house.  He ran over the snake with his car, but it didn’t kill it.  So he called our son-in-law, who went down and shot it.  This makes me nervous, because this is the same road I walk on for exercise!  I’m always vigilant, but I’ll need to be extra vigilant from now on!

Late one afternoon, last week, a freak storm blew up.  The wind was so gusty, it blew our grandsons’ trampoline out of their yard, and across the road! (the same road with the snake crossing)  The trampoline flew up on its way out of the yard, hit the roof of the back porch, and did a little damage there, too.  Fortunately, our oldest son was driving his wife’s car that day, or her car would have been parked in the path of the flying trampoline, as well.

Fortunately, the trampoline looked worse than it actually turned out to be. It’s been repaired, and is still usable, thank goodness.

Today has started off with a bang–literally!  A family of squirrels recently moved into the pine trees above my windmill/flower garden.  They’ve been making quite a mess, while feasting on pine cones each day!  This morning, Ed declared war on them by shooting up among the trees with his shotgun–at 7:30 in the morning!  Would you believe two of the squirrels actually had the nerve to stay in place after being shot at?  They vacated following the second shot, but I’m sure they’ll be back. I got a look at them, and they looked mighty fat and happy!

In other morning excitement, for the second day in a row, we had to give another one of our hens a cold-water bath! (Yes, we bathed a hen before attending church, yesterday!)  Actually, in this heat, that cold water felt pretty good to me. Once caught, Mrs. Hen didn’t put up much of a fight while in the cold water, so she may have felt the same way!  Hopefully, the second cold bath will be enough to break Mrs. Broody Hen out of her cycle of wanting to sit on eggs.  Ah, we live such an adventurous life, don’t we?!  With that thought in mind, I’ll close by saying…

Have a great Monday!

My “Elmer’s” Back In Action…

I don’t know if anyone recalls, but about this time last year I posted a story concerning my husband, Ed ,whom I lovingly refer to sometimes as “Elmer Fudd”.  The story centered around Ed, some squirrels, and our pear trees.  In case you’ve forgotten, or you never read Man Vs. Squirrel, you can read it HERE.

Well, history has a way of repeating itself, and we’ve been having the same adventures with squirrels and the pear trees this year, too!  The only problem is–this year there are fewer pears and the squirrels are much fatter and more greedy. Ed’s been keeping a vigil over the trees, with his trusty old BB gun, but those squirrels haven’t paid the crazy man in the lawn chair a bit of attention!

I guess everybody has a limit as to what they will put up with, and a week or so ago, Ed finally reached his limit with those greedy squirrels!  One day, I heard a commotion in the back of the house, then looked up to see Ed going outside armed with more than a BB gun!  I thought to myself…now there goes a man on a mission!

In a few minutes I heard Ed fire a shot, but then I heard nothing else.  It turned out that Ed fired at the squirrel and missed.  Ed rarely misses, so I suspect that he missed on purpose.  Ed said something about “giving the squirrel a warning” and “maybe he won’t come back.”  WRONG!  Greedy Mr. Squirrel was back the very next day.  This time I heard a shot fired, followed by a “thud”.  Ed didn’t miss this time.  Ed mentioned something to me about cooking Mr. Squirrel, but I hastily declined.  Maybe one day–if this economy continues on its current course–but not today!  Not to worry, our hungry cats didn’t have a problem at all with having fresh squirrel for supper!

I’d like to say that the story ends here, but unfortunately, Greedy Mr. Squirrel has some fat and greedy friends!  Two days later I saw Ed heading through the door with his gun again.  Once again, he didn’t miss, but by now Ed’s feeling a little bad for the squirrels…Several more days pass, and yet a third squirrel shows up.  Ed shoots again–and misses this time.  Was it Ed’s conscience or his declining eyesight…I guess we’ll never know.

I just hope Mr. Squirrel takes his warning seriously, and doesn’t come back for more pears, because my “Elmer’s” back in action–and this time he’s a man on a mission!

Man Vs. Squirrel…

This story begins many years ago when my husband and I bought our first pear tree. That little pear tree didn’t grow much or produce much fruit for the first few years. Eventually, we planted another little pear tree beside it, then both trees began to grow and bear fruit–a lot of fruit!

Over the years, my husband has always looked forward to eating those pears in the fall.  He enjoys picking one fresh off the tree every day, and eating it after work.  I can’t understand this, because these particular pears (Bartlett) are hard, grainy, and don’t have a lot of taste, in my opinion. I’ve made a few pear cobblers over the years, but I always have to use lots of sugar and cinnamon to make the pears have any flavor at all.

This year we’re experiencing a problem that we’ve never encountered before!  A month ago, both pear trees were loaded with fruit…then greedy Mr. Squirrel found them! This particular squirrel comes every day and bites hunks out of at least five or six different pears a day! By the end of each week, the ground underneath the trees is covered with rotting pears.

By last weekend my husband had taken as much of the greedy squirrel as he could. Hubby went inside and got out–are you ready for this–the BB gun! I laughed when I saw that!  My hubby spent every morning of the long holiday weekend sitting outside in a lawn chair trying to chase  greedy Mr. Squirrel away–with a BB gun!  He owns several guns, yet he chose to use a BB gun, ’cause he says he doesn’t want to hurt the squirrel…

Mr. Squirrel came hopping across the tops of the trees each morning, last weekend, with his appetite all ready for pears…only to be greeted by a “wild-looking” man, sitting in a lawn chair, brandishing a BB gun!  (The image of “Elmer Fudd” comes to my mind!)  My husband would then shoot at Mr. Squirrel, and chase him away–only to have the squirrel return that same afternoon or the next morning!

Yesterday morning, as I was walking to my car, I heard a thud. I looked around to find yet another pear on the ground.  Greedy Mr. Squirrel had come back for breakfast! I looked up to try to catch a glimpse of our visitor. I did, and I discovered that he’s quite plump!  His persistence is paying off!

I don’t know who’s going to win this battle for those remaining pears, but at the moment I think Mr. Squirrel has the upper hand!  I recommended to my hubby that he bring out more than a BB gun if he intends to enjoy any pears this fall!  Apparently, hubby isn’t the only one around who thinks those pears are tasty…