It's hard to believe that Monday is Memorial Day and the traditional beginning of summer. This year is going by too fast!
I walked at the gym today and when I checked in it was my favorite guy at the desk. He is young and so friendly to everyone - a pleasure to see when I come in the door. Nearly all the employees are friendly but this one is special. He noted that I was by myself, and I mentioned that I come with the other 2 women when we do a longer workout; that I had heart disease and tried to walk every day possible. When I mentioned heart disease his face fell, and I felt bad about even mentioning it.
He has had tragedy in his family lately - a car accident took a couple of his cousins and a friend, and he is trying to get back to his cheerful demeanor. I wish I hadn't said anything about my problems, but I wasn't stressing the problematic part of it - just the reason why I try to walk every day.
Driving to and from the gym I came across really weird drivers in both directions. I hope to stay put at home on Monday and avoid the unsafe drivers. You always wonder where the cops are in these situations. Many of the intersections have cameras to make sure you aren't running a red light, but I can never tell when they are on. Jeannie can spot them immediately but I can't even see them much less what color is coming from them. I think they are blue when they are operating. I try to not even go through yellow lights much less run a red one.
I found a store in Sacramento that sells the squirrel proof bird feeders. Wow! The price tag leaves me to think I don't need a bird feeder. I would try Dizzy Dick's solution except that I don't have much space in the front. I'd have to put it in the back yard, which I considered, until I was leaving for the gym and saw one of the feral cats waddling along my back fence. It is obviously well fed and I just wish the residents wouldn't feed them. They still try to kill birds. So I will do without a feeder until I find one that I can hang from a tree branch, although the cats could lurk in another part of the tree. I thought of hanging it from my front porch roof, but since I have a hummingbird feeder there I don't know if any birds would show up. I don't see why it would matter to them if they want the nectar or seed.
I should think about fixing my dinner but after a protein shake I'm not all that hungry. I've been eating cherries all day long - gotta get them while they are in season. The lady at the farmer's market told me they will have a different variety next week - very dark, almost black cherries. She said they are sweet, so I'm in for some!
Have a good Memorial Day holiday and stay safe!
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LOL I'm doing the something with cherries and said the same thing to my husband today.
ReplyDeleteGotta get them while you can. Fresh are so much better, and locally-grown fresh are the best.
DeleteI was looking at cherries the other day and boy they sure were expensive.
ReplyDeleteHave the same trouble here with people feeding these feral cats. It comes out in every news letter, brought up at every meeting and letters are sent to the offenders but it continues.
Have a safe Memorial Day
The cherries are expensive but they are only in season for a short while, so I think they are worth doing without something else for a few weeks.
DeleteThe city or county rounded up the feral cats here, spayed and neutered them, and then released them back into the mobile home park. How stupid is that. At least they won't reproduce but I wonder if we will ever be free of them.
When I recently visited Best Friends Animal Society and took their tour, they said they collect the feral cats, neuter them, and then release them back into the environment they found them. They said dogs don't do well on their own, but cats do, and they are trying to stop them from reproducing. Then put them back where they will do fine. Most people don't want to adopt a feral cat and there are so many others to find homes for, so... Not a good solution, but the best available I guess. Otherwise, they would just kill them which they don't want to do. If they can neuter all the feral cats, eventually there will be far fewer. And maybe none.
DeleteI don't think there will ever be a lack of feral cats, but I hope no more join our neighborhood. I don't understand that they are so quick to euthanize dogs that are unadoptable, but don't apply the same logic to feral cats.
DeleteHi, Gypsy. I went to the Birds Unlimited Site. We have squirrel proof bird feeders nearly identical to theirs, and I got ours at Walmart.
ReplyDeleteYou can be sure they weren't that expensive. They have the perches that are designed so that the weight of a squirrel closes the "hatch". They are mostly good for smaller birds. We have other feeders for the jays, cardinals, and woodpeckers.
We are having all out war games with squirrels this year. There are several new litters of young ones. It is amazing how totally unafraid these squirrels are. They can hang by their tails to reach our feeders hanging from a tree branch! Shouting and waving our arms has no effect. We chase them away, come in the house, look out the window, and they are back already! They seem to enjoy the game. Us, not so much. Have a good Memorial Day.
Talk about war on squirrels - they were so bad in NC that I got a water pistol but I couldn't seem to hit one right on. Then I sprayed the pole with WD-40 and laughed when they jumped up, caught the pole and then slid down circular like a fireman sliding down the pole! They got it dirty after a while and then it didn't work. They are intelligent, I'll give them credit for that, but I've detested them ever since I lived in NC.
DeleteI thought I'd try feeding them in a different place and set up ears of dry corn on the other side of the yard. The squirrels enjoyed the bird seed and darned if the birds didn't hang around enjoying the corn! Ya can't win!
Oh yum, cherries. They are wonderful! I love those dark sweet ones. So delicious! We had several feeders all in one location and the birds chose which one they wanted. The only problem was with the table feeder. The big birds would keep the little ones out so we solved that by getting a tube type feeder that you could set the perch weight so that the perch would go down when a heavy bird sat on it and block the hole into the feeder. It was great!
ReplyDeleteI really don't know what to do about a feeder for the regular birds. There is so little space in front of the house and most of it would be unsafe for the birds. The back yard would be even worse as I rarely go out there, and feral cats go across the yard fairly often.
DeleteI've always wanted to get a bird bath, especially since Sacramento gets so hot during the summer, but I have the same problem of where to put it that they would be fairly safe. Maybe I over-think it too much, and the birds can take care of themselves quite well.
I haven't seen a hummingbird at the new feeder since I put it up. I can't imagine where they are, but I'm going to keep waiting.
I haven't seen cherries yet in the stores where I've been. Sure hope I get a chance for a few big bags of them before they are out of season. When I lived in CA, I used to get tons of them until they were finally gone. And you're right, they are worth not getting something else for a while. The large, dark, sweet cherries are the best!
ReplyDeleteI think the large dark sweet cherries are what they are promising for next Saturday's market. I just can't believe the difference in buying direct from the growers - I've even started buying eggs there and they are so much better. I got lemons Saturday that are the size of oranges! And they are so friendly, offer samples of fruit you might not be familiar with or hesitate to buy in quantity. One sample taste and you are usually hooked!
DeleteIt is nice when an employee at a place we frequent makes our visits there that more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI plan on staying home during this Memorial weekend, too many people out and about driving like madmen. We are also under severe thunderstorm warnings so there is no chance of me going anywhere.
One of the things I've noticed compared to the gym I used to go to, is that I get a lot more respect and not looked at as just an old lady. They want me to enjoy myself, praise me on my faithfulness to exercising, and are impressed that three generations of us come to the gym together.
DeleteI try to stay off the roads around any holiday if I can. Jeannie & Donald drove to San Francisco today to celebrate their anniversary, and I'll be relieved when they get back.