Nine
After the minor excitement (ok, serious stress) in the middle of the week (if you haven’t checked in since last Sunday, go back a bit… you’ll see what I mean!) we are now Calm And Rational people. We are patient, and we will wait for the week until Mr Planner has done his stuff. Till 4.15 Thursday. See, still imprinted on my brain… We don’t do a great deal, as we still don’t want to jump the gun and start Doing Stuff in case it all goes pear-shaped.
So Saturday becomes a normal Saturday – we watch squirrels, go shopping, watch squirrels, see mum for coffee, watch squirrels, have lunch (watching squirrels), do housework, watch squirrels, clean old mower (that will be Important later), watch squirrels, mow grass and have a cup of tea (watching squirrels). The squirrels are very watchable. No, really! We don’t actually recognise any of them yet – apart from the one with a square end to his tail who we’ve called Squaretail. Yes, we’re as good at squirrel names as we are at cake names! And there are two baby squirrels. The babies are the only ones who actually like each other – all the others are VERY argumentative and very territorial. If a grownup is feeding and another dares to come close, they get chased off in no uncertain terms. So far we’ve had several squirrels almost launched into outer space…including one who span impressively as he soared through the air. The babies, however, are much nicer to each other. They play games of rough and tumble and ‘tag’ and frequently fall off the steps or the wall or the dustbin lid. We watch one of them getting nuts out of the feeder and the other baby approaches, so the first one moves over a bit and then they both dive headfirst into the feeder together, one with his paw (arm?) round the other. Soooooo cute! No, of course I haven’t got a picture. But I’ll try…
We think the rope is a bit too loose as the squirrels are getting exceedingly adept at shooting up the dustbin pole, flinging themselves at the rope and then climbing up the rope to the feeder. Not entirely the right idea, but still fun to watch.
When I was little we had a tame squirrel called Cussie (he used to swear a lot)… he’d fallen out of his tree and mum took him in and nursed him back to health, so he became very tame. One of his favourite treats was Cadbury’s chocolate fingers – he’d hold one like a flute, nibble all the chocolate off one end, flip it over, nibble the rest of the chocolate off then chuck the biscuit away. We decide to try this out on our squirrels… we put two chocolate fingers on the pole at the opposite end to the nuts. And wait. Nothing. We’re temporarily distracted and suddenly they’re gone… We put more out. And wait… Most of the squirrels completely ignore the fingers, heading for the nuts or coconut (which is now also hanging on the rope). Except one. He shins up the pole, grabs the chocolate finger, stuffs it crossways in his mouth, shins back down the pole and legs it across the grass. Later he comes back – we presume it’s the same squirrel as he’s on a mission to collect chocolate fingers and doesn’t bother with the Healthy Option meals on offer… Hopefully he’ll get relaxed about it in a few days and sit and eat them on the pole. Or else he’s just stockpiling them to open a tuck shop…
Achieved: Nearly got planning! We think….
Hours worked: Still nothing – we don’t want to tempt fate. Although I did pull up the last of the pegs and string marking the site for our shed as I tripped over them twice on my way to the compost bins when mowing the grass and Got Cross. They were in the wrong place anyway…
Progress: We should know by Thursday (4.15) this week.
Shed plans: Still need to finalise the position. Especially since I dismantled the string and pegs.
Purchases: Chocolate finger biscuits. Nope, you’re right – nothing to do with the shed.
Pressies: Guy bought me two coconuts. Also for the squirrels. So they’re squirrel pressies really.
Plan for the week: We’re ON HOLIDAY! Being us, we’re not heading for the usual hotspots of Spain or Portugal… No, we’re off to the British Lawnmower Museum in Liverpool. You may hear more about this …
So Saturday becomes a normal Saturday – we watch squirrels, go shopping, watch squirrels, see mum for coffee, watch squirrels, have lunch (watching squirrels), do housework, watch squirrels, clean old mower (that will be Important later), watch squirrels, mow grass and have a cup of tea (watching squirrels). The squirrels are very watchable. No, really! We don’t actually recognise any of them yet – apart from the one with a square end to his tail who we’ve called Squaretail. Yes, we’re as good at squirrel names as we are at cake names! And there are two baby squirrels. The babies are the only ones who actually like each other – all the others are VERY argumentative and very territorial. If a grownup is feeding and another dares to come close, they get chased off in no uncertain terms. So far we’ve had several squirrels almost launched into outer space…including one who span impressively as he soared through the air. The babies, however, are much nicer to each other. They play games of rough and tumble and ‘tag’ and frequently fall off the steps or the wall or the dustbin lid. We watch one of them getting nuts out of the feeder and the other baby approaches, so the first one moves over a bit and then they both dive headfirst into the feeder together, one with his paw (arm?) round the other. Soooooo cute! No, of course I haven’t got a picture. But I’ll try…
We think the rope is a bit too loose as the squirrels are getting exceedingly adept at shooting up the dustbin pole, flinging themselves at the rope and then climbing up the rope to the feeder. Not entirely the right idea, but still fun to watch.
When I was little we had a tame squirrel called Cussie (he used to swear a lot)… he’d fallen out of his tree and mum took him in and nursed him back to health, so he became very tame. One of his favourite treats was Cadbury’s chocolate fingers – he’d hold one like a flute, nibble all the chocolate off one end, flip it over, nibble the rest of the chocolate off then chuck the biscuit away. We decide to try this out on our squirrels… we put two chocolate fingers on the pole at the opposite end to the nuts. And wait. Nothing. We’re temporarily distracted and suddenly they’re gone… We put more out. And wait… Most of the squirrels completely ignore the fingers, heading for the nuts or coconut (which is now also hanging on the rope). Except one. He shins up the pole, grabs the chocolate finger, stuffs it crossways in his mouth, shins back down the pole and legs it across the grass. Later he comes back – we presume it’s the same squirrel as he’s on a mission to collect chocolate fingers and doesn’t bother with the Healthy Option meals on offer… Hopefully he’ll get relaxed about it in a few days and sit and eat them on the pole. Or else he’s just stockpiling them to open a tuck shop…
Achieved: Nearly got planning! We think….
Hours worked: Still nothing – we don’t want to tempt fate. Although I did pull up the last of the pegs and string marking the site for our shed as I tripped over them twice on my way to the compost bins when mowing the grass and Got Cross. They were in the wrong place anyway…
Progress: We should know by Thursday (4.15) this week.
Shed plans: Still need to finalise the position. Especially since I dismantled the string and pegs.
Purchases: Chocolate finger biscuits. Nope, you’re right – nothing to do with the shed.
Pressies: Guy bought me two coconuts. Also for the squirrels. So they’re squirrel pressies really.
Plan for the week: We’re ON HOLIDAY! Being us, we’re not heading for the usual hotspots of Spain or Portugal… No, we’re off to the British Lawnmower Museum in Liverpool. You may hear more about this …
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