Friday, June 19, 2009

For Hours of Entertainment...

Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art. ~Izaak Walton

I've been having squirrel problems at the bird feeders... more squirrels than I've ever had before. I have chipmunks, too, but they don't eat as much AND they typically eat what falls on the ground, which is fine with me. But the SQUIRRELS. DH is always saying he could "take care of them" for me... yes, a loosely disguised offer to kill them.

I'm a big believer in letting things live if they aren't a threat to my safety, or my plants safety (I say this, because I am pretty mean to the red lily leaf beetles, Japanese beetles, wireworms, tomato worms and the great number of other insect pests that strip my plants -- those assassinate without pity and without mercy), so I'm not going to entice the little rodents to my feeders and then kill them. That's just wrong.

Instead... I splurged and bought a new bird feeder: The Yankee Flipper.

Aside from (hopefully) keeping the squirrels off my feeder, I have great hope that it will provide hours of entertainment. Here's a YouTube video I found (keep the volume down unless you like the song "You Spin Me Round" by Dead or Alive:



And, my lovely local Agway (I really, really love them) assured me I can bring it back if it doesn't work. They're the best people ever -- I can even bring back OPENED pet food, or used bug spray or whatever if it doesn't work or I'm dissatisfied in any way. They're such great folks...

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I wrote -- not yesterday, unfortunately, but I did write the day before! Just over 1000 words on a short romantic comedy based on the short I did for Womans World that was rejected some months ago. It's so much fun to write -- because they are getting into one predicament after another. Do you think they're cursed? LOL.... Anyway, I don't know how long it will be (I'm aiming for at least 12k words), or where I'll send it (I'm torn between Samhain or a particular publisher that is looking for short stories for a print anthology... I'd sure like to see it in print), but I love it and I know how it ends, so should actually be able to GET THERE.

I also worked some more on Stiller Creek... this one is harder since I have to go back and add in a character and make it look seamless, as though he'd been there from the beginning. But, it's giving me a chance to work on some things I didn't love, and I might go ahead and resubmit it to Samhain once it's done (since she did offer to look at it again). We'll see...

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Rain is expected for most of the weekend, so fun will be had by all here... NOT. DH and DD can't go boating, Dd will be cooped up... ugh. Please, please let the sun come out tomorrow... and, wow, that was an inadvertant earworm, for which I apologize profusely.

Any plans for the weekend?

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11 comments:

Michele said...

Plans for the weekend?
Um....
Helping DH get ready for his week long seminar in Cincinatti. He leaves ON Father's day. What a bummer.
Sooo, I might, after he leaves for the airport, take the kids with my mom and see the movie UP. I've been hearing lots of good things about it.

Laundry, tons of laundry..and..getting my head straight for the new summer work schedule.
That's going to take a whole weekend to sort out. *sigh*

And...wishing for sun! and when we get it? rain. LOL
I wish mother nature would balance things a bit better, don't you?

Have a teriff weekend!

Michele said...

OH,, yeah..I have to work on SAturday.

BTW? The squirrel video?
ROTFL!! My little one wanted to watch it again and again, he giggled all the way through.
I hope it Does work..if so< you can make your own video and share it with us...LOLOL

That's a fun way to start the AM, with a smile.
Thanks!

Dru said...

I'm going to the circus on Saturday and I can't wait.

The Yankee Flipper is cute. I'm assuming the squirrels are not harmed but the video was funny.

Have a great weekend and I hope the sun comes out for you. They're still predicting rain for the weekend.

MomJane said...

What a fun video. Hope the sun comes out for you this weekend.

Brandy said...

The video had me laughing. I'll have to show it to my Son later. *G*
Ooh, you cursed your characters? Awesome! *G* (I know you didn't, really.)
Sorry to hear about the rain. We've had rain every day this week and three really bad storms, one each night for the last three nights. I refuse to bow down to the ear worm your snuck in. *G*

Have a nice day!

Marianne Arkins said...

Dru,

I just had to say: no squirrels were harmed in the filming of that video.

If it would stop pouring, I'd put mine out... *sigh*.

M~

Tori Lennox said...

Loved the video! And I've always liked that song (even if the male lead singer of Dead Or Alive is prettier and wears more makeup than I do *g*).

We used to put grease on the bird feeder poles. And would roll around on the floor laughing as we watched the squirrels try to climb only to slide back to the ground.

anno said...

This video cracked me up!

The rain is depressing. At least it's getting warmer. Around here, we're hoping the rain stops for my husband's birthday grill & a planned father's day grill for all the men in my family. Hope you all have a relaxing weekend!

Diane Craver said...

You've been tagged!

We're going to help our son move to his house tomorrow and on Sunday, celebrate Father's Day!

Melissa McClone said...

I am on my own (well, not counting the animals) until Sunday. I'm off to my Dave Ramsey FPU class tonight then plan on writing, writing, writing.

Good luck with the squirrels.

Sarita Leone said...

I saw the squirrel gizmo in Agway and practically rolled in the aisle, I laughed so hard! I love it that you bought one.

All I can think is, don't drink coffee while watching the bird feeder. It could get very messy. *G*

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.