Was Today Groundhog Day?

This groundhog definitely saw his shadow today...two months too late. Maybe Spring will finally arrive in this God-forsaken state. The sunshine is very deceiving. It's still cold as heck out there.

Masked Bandits

I've lived here for over 24 years and during that time I've had problems with raccoons. I've had them come in the house through the cat door and eat the cat food. I've caught them several times. I had two openings for the cats. One was in the back door of the garage and the other came through the garage wall into the breezeway.

One day I heard some crunching out in the kitchen. Both cats were with me so I knew it had to be a raccoon eating the cat food. Dipstick was lying on me so I put him down and walked into the kitchen. Dip following behind. I flipped on the light and sure enough, there's a raccoon munching down on 9-Lives.

Dip just sat down to observe. The raccoon looked up at me and slowly walked right past me, out into the breezeway and out the cat door into the garage. I followed him out there and he seemed confused as to how to get out. By this time he was spooked and literally started climbing the walls.

The 2 x 4's are exposed in my garage and that crazy raccoon was climbing them. I opened the back door, grabbed a broom and poked at him a few times but this just scared him even more. He jumped off the wall and waddled way back in a corner underneath a small garden tractor trailer that was built for my Dad by my ex-hubby Rocky. After poking at him some more and telling him to 'get on outta here' he finally found his way out the door.

Years ago I used to feed the birds but after getting up every morning to find my feeders on the ground, sometimes destroyed, and always empty of their contents...I gave up. I would put out a suet cake and the next morning the cage would be on the ground and the suet gone. So I bought a shepherd's hook thinking that would do the trick but the next morning the suet cage was once again lying on the ground empty. I even tried squeezing the S-hook tightly around the shepherd's hook thinking the raccoons wouldn't be able to pull if off the hook. Well, they couldn't pull if off so they slid it up and over the bend of the hook and then just let it fall to the ground.

*Sigh*

This time around I've been bringing the feeders in at night. It's a pain but at least I'm not feeding the raccoons anymore. I really would like to attract some more woodpeckers to the backyard. So, last night after work I bought a peanut feeder and some peanuts. I particularly want to get some Pileated Woodpeckers (Woody Woodpeckers) to visit.

Becky & Joe have a beautiful Red-headed Woodpecker that comes to their feeder which hangs right on the eaves of their house. I figure raccoons won't be able to get to the eaves so I hung the peanut feeder out after I got home. Here's what the feeder looks like. (It's about 11" tall.)



And this pic shows where I hung it...not on the eave but just above the kitchen window:



Around 10PM I heard some thumping and scratching outside the kitchen window. At first I was scared! Then it dawned on me...a masked bandit was after my peanuts!!!

I grabbed the flashlight, threw open the window and there he was, less than 2 feet away from me, sitting on the pump house enjoying his snack. He had ripped the top off of the feeder, dumped the peanuts out and just helped himself.

The feeder had been out there less than 3 hours.

Guess I have another feeder I have to bring in at night. :o(

More critters

I went to Babcock's last night hoping to get a glimpse (and maybe some photos) of an eagle they've been seeing around the lake. Unfortunately, I didn't see the eagle but I caught a couple other critters on camera.





They had a beautiful red-headed woodpecker coming to their feeder but he wouldn't stick around long enough to get a shot. Their orioles were also feeding quite a bit.

Wildlife

Ever since I can remember I've always wished I could go on safari in Africa. One of my favorite TV shows is Big Cat Diary. The show is no longer in production but it's still shown on Animal Planet every weekday, and even though I've seen each one many times over, I still DVR it and watch it.

My favorite 'stars' of the show are the cheetahs. They have got to be the most wonderful creatures God ever created. The cubs are so adorable and the way these big cats put up with the humans filming them is amazing. Rather than running away in fear or viewing the intruders as dinner, these wild felines ignore them or use their jeeps to their advantage. Many times climbing on top to get a better view of their surroundings. I can't imagine how great it would be to have a cheetah sitting on the hood of my car.

But, since I live in Michigan where there are no cheetahs, I have to make do with the wildlife that is available. I've seen all sorts of creatures in my back yard including deer, rabbits, blue heron, muskrats, ducks and even a fox...none of which were ever willing to stay in view once they got a look at me.

One day last week I was cashiering at the store and a woman came through my lane with a boatload of grape jelly. I made a comment about it and she said she uses it to feed the orioles in her yard. I've seen orioles many times and usually put out oranges for them but I didn't know that they liked grape jelly. So I decided to give it a try and sat some out for them Monday afternoon.

I saw a male and female oriole up in the old hickory tree out back last week but so far, neither of them have come to eat the jelly. I hadn't put out any oranges this year and I'm afraid the orioles have already moved on. They usually don't stick around here all summer. The woman who came through my lane said they come by the hundreds to her yard and now she spends all her money on grape jelly.

I don't think I want it to go that far.