With the warming weather comes the scratch and scrabble of mice nesting in my insulation. The trap in the mudroom was sprung and akilter this morning, but empty. One got away. The little critters don't often enter my living quarters, not with two cats, and they won't last long if they do.
The woodpecker was back this morning, and yesterday afternoon, drilling on my stovepipe. These are northern flickers -- shrill-voiced, medium-sized, red-chested birds that drill on metal and wood to define their territory and call for mates. As spring progresses, they'll be up at the crack of dawn -- which may be 4:30 a.m. in June -- drilling away. It sounds like a machine gun going off in my cabin. I used to get angry -- leap out of bed, bang back with a wooden spoon on the stovepipe, rush outside in my robe with a handful of pebbles and swear words. It was all futile. Now I've given in, accepted it. I pull the covers over my head and grumble and smile. I'm unimportant in the woodpecker's scheme of things, and that makes me happy.
3 Comments:
Very cheering entry, thank you!
I went looking for a solution to my woodpecker problem and came across your site. I could have written your entry myself. I am fighting the mice and woodpeckers at my lakeside cabin in PA. I guess I will go with the flow and stop running outside to yell at the uninterested woodpeckers.
It's good to run across the site of an intelligent woman who I am sure has something to say.
Donna
Thanks for stopping by, Donna.
The flickers haven't touched my stovepipe for the past two springs. I sort of miss it.
I still see them flitting around, but for whatever reason, they have lost interest in the stovepipe.
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