Knock, knock. Who's there?

So, here's the story:

We hear a knocking sound at the south side of the house; a rather strange, sharp hammering sound, but somewhat arrhythmic.

A quick look out the kitchen door confirms the suspect - a woodpecker. And the little beggar is modifying the entrance hole to a birdhouse.

Some research in the Audubon book yields the identity of the aforementioned beggar and the probable intent:

• female Downy woodpecker (no red patch seen on the back of the neck, size smaller than a robin),
• woodpeckers will thump on a dead tree limb, or similar material, to announce their presence and declare their territory. In other words, the little beggar was drumming, or
• the house hole may be marked for future use.

It might be nice to have resident woodpeckers, but they do make some weird noises.

Thanksgiving visit

The Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone. I have been remiss in updating these pages.


Granny Gwen came for a visit on Friday. We saw Dana and Jason, Eri and Mike, and all the great-grand kids on Friday and Saturday. Much noise and good fun. GG had gifts for all the kids; well thought out and well received.


Thanksgiving dinner was on Sunday. Only Erika, Bennett and Charlotte Mary were available, everyone else was either busy or on the road. Rather and active group!

So, here's what happened. Erika came over with Bennett and Charlotte. We had a grand time while the bird and other good stuff was cooking.

Everyone took turns entertaining everyone else.


Granny Gwen said "hello" to Charlotte.
Charlotte didn't say much, but she was interested in all the comings and goings.

She has changed a lot in just the 5 weeks or so.





Bennett played with all the toys and then took a picture of Grampa.







The dinner was really great, but I don't have any pictures. Penny took lots of pictures using an ancient camera that has to be loaded with something called "film". And you can't actually see the pictures. Doesn't seem like a very good system to me. Must be hard to sell that idea, what with the time delay and effort to get the pictures out of the camera. And how are you supposed to share them with all your pals?

I did get a couple of pictures of the "last" roses of summer. The way things are going, we may have new roses into February. These were cut and put in the kitchen window.