I went over to Carol’s to feed the birds this morning but… hardly one to be seen.  Oh, they were there, all right, and scolding! scolding! scolding!  Not me — or at least I don’t think so.  They were really cross with the two little critters who beat them to the  goodies!

Little Mr. Chipmunk was there even before I arrived, looking over a few scattered seeds that had been left behind yesterday.  As I approached, he had quite a bit to say about the situation but scooted into the bushes when I got within arm’s distance.  And, then, even before I left, he was aced out by Mr. (or Mrs.) Gray Squirrell.  Apparently they are not dining companions and whoever gets there first is the Seed King of the moment.

Meanwhile, the ever-patient (though noisy!) birds kept fairly well hidden in the trees.  Like who did they think was going to bother them, anyway?  I’m pretty sure they could have joined either of the furry critters, but apparently that is not good manners among the woodland fauna.

I didn’t stick around to see if everyone got his/her fair share.   (Mostly, I don’t know what “fair” is.  Or is that even a concept among the feathered and furred?)  I guess their numbers and continued patronage is the best indicator that they are happy with their allotment each day.  I’m just glad they are good cleaner-uppers.  I wouldn’t want one of Tucker’s bears to come join the breakfast brigade!  Not on my watch!

Mr. P. in Colin’s Plum Tree

My down-the-street neighbor, after reading of the fruit-theiving porcupine in my plum tree, sent a photo of Mr. P in HIS plum tree a day or so later.  That rodent is surely making the rounds!

I did a little sleuthing to see what I could learn about porcupines. According to my research, adults range from 2 to 3 feet in length and weigh about 20 pounds,  Their fur ranges in color from brownish-yellow to black with white highlights on their quills – (the black and white are definitely “our” guy’s colors,)  And they are covered in approximately 30,000 hollow quills.

Even though all our Oysterville sightings so far have been with the rascals in trees, they are said to spend much of their time on the ground.  AND, presumably they aren’t the best climbers.  One study found that 30% of the porcupines had healed fractures from falling out of trees! 

Dogs often tangle with porcupines and should be taken directly to a vet should that occur. Such an attack can be fatal. 

As for their diet — A foraging porcupine will eat the fruits (as we know, here in Oysterville), plants, and vegetables in your garden and they  have been known to chew on tool handles, garden hoses, and tires.

In Washington, porcupines “are unprotected” which I assume means you may have your way with them.  My way is to let them go their way.  But I do resent their stealing my plums!

Look who’s in our plum tree??? Photo by Cate Gable

Look who  Cate spotted in Nyel’s plum tree the other day!  The pesky porcupine that ate all of the Wachsmuth’s apples!  Of course, it’s hard to tell with porcupines, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same one.  After all, we don’t often see any of these slow-moving critters in town and this one does look pretty familiar.  And smug.

Tucker checked out the few plums (actually they’re Italian prunes) Mr. Porcupine left on the upper branches and reports that they are still a bit tart.  We (Tucker on his ladder, me on terra firma with a container) are going to try to get them on Saturday — if any remain!

And today, while I was at the dentist, the meadow just beyond that plummy prune tree disappeared!  Just like that!!  Chris-The-Mower-Man was here and what a grand job he did!  Have you noticed the ORF Meadow as you come into town from the south?  Beautiful! And it’s so nice to see Willard’s Bench once again after its summer disappearance in the tall grasses!

Our Gorgeous Meadow Ready For Autumn!

I hope we have a month or two to enjoy the beauty of the shorn meadow grasses before the winter tides and rains start creating their puddles and lakes out there.  But, I love those, too — especially when the ducks get to dabbling and it’s splash-full of watery activity out there beyond my windows!  It is hard to believe, though, that summer is just about over!  I hope I enjoyed it.  It seemed to dash by so in a blink this year!

St. Helen’s Hall, Portland OR

Being in two places — or maybe three or thirty — at once has been a life-long fantasy of mine.  I’ve always had the unreasonable desire to “do it all” but, as much as I’ve tried, I’ve not been very successful at it.  My earliest memories of that unrealistic yearning go back to my pre-Kindergarten days at St. Helen’s Hall in Portland,

My good friend, Nancy Cannon, was a bit younger than I and perhaps a bit more timid.  When St. Helen’s Hall proved a “good fit” for me, Nancy’s mother enrolled her as well, not realizing that she would be in a different class.  I still remember sitting on the floor in the back of my classroom by the huge windowless French doors talking to Nancy on the other side — trying in my best five-year-old tones to reassure her that it would “be all right.”

Nancy Cannon Goodell (1970s ?)

How I wanted to give her a hug and how torn I was when my own teacher led me back to my place at the little table where bright-colored crayons and a coloring book awaited me.  “If only,” I remember thinking, “I could be in my classroom and Nancy’s at the same time!”  That was almost eighty years ago and I can still remember how stubbornly I hung onto the idea that I SHOULD be able to be both places at once.

Today, as on every Labor Day Sunday of the past 45 years, I am thinking yet again of how to be in two places at once — at Vespers in Oysterville or at the Annual Williams Family Reunion in Chinook.  If I didn’t have “responsibilities” at the former and I were less cautious about my old-age driving abilities, I could probably spend an hour at the Chinook gathering and make it back in time for most of Vespers.  But alas!  It is not to be.

Zooming — the next best thing to cloning?

Maybe cloning wouldn’t be possible, anyway.  Would I have to be young and physically fit?  Could I choose my destinations and arrival/departure times precisely?  And, does making “the best possible choice” in such matters really develop our character as my parents tried to gently infer as I was growing up?  There is one small consolation, though — tonight is Zoom Night with Charlie and Marta.  It’s about at close to cloning as we are likely to get in my lifetime.  Certainly better that talking through a crack between those big old French doors!