Friday, October 26, 2012

Frankenstorm

About this time last year we were looking at this map:
We ended up losing power for 'only' two days - we had friends who lost power for over a week!

Today we have this:


Here's hoping they're scaremongering, but knowledgeable people are taking it very seriously! I'm sure if we wanted to buy a generator we're too late already, but I'm heading out now to gas the car up, get some cash and do some (non-perishable) food shopping. 

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Masked bandits at night

I blogged recently about how DH and DD have been handfeeding the chipmunks in our yard. Not surprisingly, the local wildlife seems to have decided that our property is restaurant central. We came home the other day and found a chipmunk inside the bird feeder that hangs in the tree outside the front door! The squirrels have claimed the feeders hanging from the back deck. They get very frustrated with the thistle seed feeder because the openings are so small, but it doesn't stop them from repeatedly trying to get seed out of it. The birds hang around waiting for the squirrels to get tired or full (they eventually do!) so they can have their turn.

Soooo . . . we had been blaming the squirrels for the speed at which the bird feeders were emptying, but the other night DH happened to look out of the kitchen window and saw not one but THREE raccoons on the deck, two of them up on the railing stuffing themselves silly with sunflower seeds. They didn't even turn around when we knocked on the window. They barely seemed to notice when we switched the outside light on. One of them even came right up to the glass door and looked in - with the kids' faces pressed right up to the glass on the inside! Fortunately,  even DH agreed that there is no way THESE animals are going to be hand-fed. They are too big, and potentially too dangerous. We were all tempted to open the door though because it was really difficult to get a good photo in such poor light from the other side of a window or glass door. This was the best of a bunch of photos:


Monday, October 08, 2012

27 years

I just realized tonight that I forgot to change the header for this blog back in August - the anniversary of my arrival in the USA. It's been 27 years now. I've lived here more than half my life. Most of my life. I'm still not sure that I can really grasp that. And last week, someone I had just met randomly asked me to say "schedule". When I asked why, she commented that she had noticed my accent.  More than half my life in the USA and I still don't sound American!
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