Yesterday’s all-day downpour ceased in late afternoon, leaving us positively in the pink.
But the storm was still sulking around.
.
“Not done yet!”
Sun tried awfully hard this morning.
Days like this, it’s hard to leave the window
.
as pockets of light find the silver birches.
.
As ever, hill house was brightly lit.
.
But I had other distractions.
Suddenly, after a long absence:
Little Red!
Ignoring a half dozen blue jays, she darted back and forth across the patio to get nuts.
.
The larger squirrels mostly come to the patio *to beat each other up, but Red ignores them too.
We are getting to know a whole new gang of the large squirrels.
Those with a reddish tail seem a little less stroppy than the all-greys.
(*So it seems!)
.
Red’s brought her clan back with her!
She has declined to say where she’s been or whether we may expect to see Ghost any time soon.
.
There’s another very pale squirrel but definitely not Ghost (left).
He disappeared once before and came back, so who knows?
.
On December 2nd, we were astounded to see Scooter emerge from hibernation.
We immediately provided food in strategic places, not knowing exactly which was her burrow as she moves about a lot despite her disability.
.
We caught a very brief glimpse of her a week or so later and thought she looked very thin.
Today, she was by the burrow under the sparrow hedge so we’ve kept putting food there and today here she was again.
.
The missing fur and scar on her back are presumably evidence of the injury that crippled her back legs.
Everything considered, we think she looks fairly well.
Grant has provided a veritable smorgasbord for her.
We’ll watch out for her, of course.
.
There’s always something to watch!
.
Even if it’s just two planes racing
.
Geese on the wing
.
Outlines and contrails
.
The going down of the Sun
Great to see Little Red and Scooter.
I say, “Always something” a lot. But it’s usually about something stressful, or bad!
Best wishes, Pete.
I thought I’d make it something good 🙂
Ah, Little Red – it’s nice to see her again. Even on a day when it is peaceful around your home, interesting things still happen! Squirrels, groundhogs and racing planes … never a dull moment!