Squirrels and Grasshoppers

Squirrels rise with the sun.

They stretch, groom, chitter, chatter, whatever.

Then they start to harvest. About 6 am they venture out to the oak branches which arch over the roof of our house. They start eating & gathering. They aren't very careful.

KAPOW!!!

They drop an acorn (or two, or three, or FOUR!) and it sounds like a gunshot as it lands on our roof. Now. . . I was up at 5 to feed the baby. I have to get up for the day at 7. Their 6 a.m.-louder-than-thunder breakfast buffet is not endearing the furry little creatures to my heart. And it goes on...what seems like on and on. Just when your heart rate returns to normal and you think they're done: POW!! Another one falls. They seem to finish at, oh, about 5 til 7. ARGH! And it makes a mess too! This the detritus left on our front porch from their daily ritual: (Our entire front porch looks like this from stem to stern! We crunch acorns under our feet whenever we go outside)

Not a fan of the oak tree itself at the moment either.

Since we had the tree in front fall this spring (4 days before Ethan was born, remember?) we've been discussing having the back one removed. Taking part in the conspiracy to keep me from getting sleep - even if it's a passive role - is NOT a mark in its favor!

So ends my tale of the squirrels for today.

On to grasshoppers. . .

It's a supremely beautiful day and William wanted to ride his bike and go to the park. Being the outdoor junkie that I am, I gave in even though I have bucket loads of work to do before tomorrow.

(Slacker! Double Slacker!)

So we got out the trike and the stroller and headed down. When we got down there he wanted to go across the bridge and ride around the circle. 'The circle' is a paved circular path in the middle of a peaceful naturalized walking area. Here he is ready to take on the circle: When we got there today, there were grasshoppers everywhere. At first he didn't want to ride through them jumping all over the path. He ducked his head and wouldn't go on.

So I said, "Babe, they're just grasshoppers. They won't hurt you."

And then I walked on ahead of him. He followed slowly at first and then with a little more courage he sped up a bit. Then he looked back at me and said, "They're tickling me!"

I had to chuckle...true enough-there were lots of grasshoppers and one occasionally landed on me or whizzed so closely by my face that I could feel the tickling air of its passage. Before long, William was pedaling like a maniac (he's on the trike, remember, and it's much too short for his legs!) and loudly asserting, "Excuse me, little bugs! Excuse me, little bugs!"

Ok, seriously laughing now. Ha! Ha! Grasshoppers flying every which way and an energetic young boy storming through the melee on his trike while politely saying 'excuse me' to a bunch of bugs...

People do often compliment me on his manners. Hee. hee.

Now please excuse me...while I catch my breath and stretch my cheeks after laughing too much.

Well, that's all really. Just wanted to share my amusing stories for the day! I hope you enjoyed them.