What is that weird noise?

Lately, Tim and I have heard a weird tapping in the house. I thought it sounded like the pipes making noise. If you were in one end of the house, it was loud there, but if you walked to the other end of the house, it was loud there, also. I thought I had it narrowed down to the water heater. I was wrong. I went outside to see if I saw anything flapping in the breeze. Nope, nothing flapping, just a bird flying away. A bird wouldn't be making that type of noise. Wrong! It was a woodpecker. A confused woodpecker. It was pecking at all the metal vents on the roof, hopping from one vent to another, pecking all the way. The mystery was solved. We have a metalpecker. It pecks at different times of the day, all day long. It drives the dogs crazy, but they are getting used to it. It was kind of driving me crazy trying to find out what it was, too.We have even seen it pecking the stop sign down the street. OK, I suppose it could be another metalpecker at the stop sign. We do have your normal run of the mill woodpeckers out here as well, but this is the first metalpecker we've seen or heard. We have discovered that, sometimes, the wildlife up here is just weird. People up here jokingly call it W.A.C.O., Wild Animal Conspiracy Organization, and they are getting even with people for all the things people have done to animals. Sounds fair to me. So, if you ever hear a weird tapping at your house, look outside. Maybe you have your very own metalpecker, too.

Mountain Lion Attack

  Tim and I found out from our next door neighbor, that, a couple of weeks ago, a mountain lion attacked a horse in the yard of the people that live across the street from him. By the time the horse's owners found the horse, it was a couple of miles from here, and was pretty clawed up. The horse survived the attack.
  Tim told some coworkers about the attack and they told him to be sure and look up into the trees when we go out and get some bear spray and an air horn.
  We live in a wooded area, but we aren't really out in the sticks. We have neighbors all around us. I never have gone out too much when it's dark outside because ou all the eyes you see at different heights. Pretty creepy. I don't see well in the dark anyway. Tim is having second thought about his going out at night, too. We have one of those million candle lights he takes with him whe he leaves for work in the mornings to see what's out there.
  I'd need to get a backpack to carry everything in just to go to the street and get the mail. I guess when Jake and Chip and I go to get the mail and take the trash out, we are really trolling for mountain lions.

Uh Oh! I'm Thinking Again

Yup, I'm thinking again, and sometimes it's scary. It's not, this time. At least not much. I think I will have to get an outdoor cast iron dutch oven and try cooking in the great outdoors. It is suppose to be easy to do, with practice. I have been looking at dutch ovens and have decided that the weight of the oven will determine the size I get. Being the weakling that I am, I don't want one that weighs more than 17 or 18 pounds empty. I think that's about a 5-6 quart size.  Along witht the dutch oven, there is the lid lifter, and cleaning brush and cookbooks to get. Next, it will be the tripod to hold the dutch oven. Lots of gadgets and gizmos you can get, but all you really need is the dutch oven. It would be nice to take camping, use when the electricity is out, since our house is all electric, and just to cook with at home. There is the problem of finding someplace to store it when not in use. Guess I'd just have to use it all the time to take care of that problem. Think of the muscles I'll get hefting it around. Then again, I could just wat until Tim is hame and have him move it around for me. I would really like to do it all without help. I hear weight bearing exercise is good for osteoporosis so it'll do me good.

Spring Is In The Air

We have had one of the warmest winters on record up here, and people are ready for spring. We missed out on todays snow, which is just fine.
The birds are out busily collecting nest building materials, the sheep behind us are ready to lamb, (I really hope they all stay in their own fields this year), and soon, we should see little spotted fawns, and ducklings and goslings, and let's not forget all the wildflowers. I really wish my camera worked. Maybe, I wore it out taking snow pictures from the previous winters. Oh, and lets definately not forget all those yard and garage sales.
Gardens seem to be the topic on alot of peoples minds right now. It's so nice, should I get ready to plant now, or wait. I guess the rule of thumb up here is, if the snow is off of Mica Peak, it's time to plant. I don't think Mica Peak had snow this year, but it might have had a tad bit, if any. If that doesn't work, it's Mother's Day or Memorial weekend. We planted most things around Mother's Day last year, and of course winter decided to have the last laugh.
We can't see Mica Peak from our house, but we can see Mount Spokane, and it still has snow on it.
Last year, I jumped the gun a little, (ok, it was a couple of months), and started most of our seeds in the house, not knowing about the Mica Peak thing. I had to practically use a weed wacker to get through the dinning room. This year, I think I will just plant the seeds in the ground and take my chances.
Since we didn't have the amount of snow pack we need for water, lets hope we don't have a bad drought and bad fire dangers, since we live in the woods.
For now, I'll just go through all the new seed catalogs we have and figure out what to plant and enjoy our spring like weater.

I Have "IT"

I don't usually get sick, because I tell myself, it's bad for my health, but this year I managed to catch "IT". Tim brought "IT" home from work and really tried not to pass "IT" on, but no such luck. I was in the grocery store, coughing into my arm, and a woman came up to me and said, " I see you have "IT", too. "IT" just hangs around forever." Now, I know "IT" has a name. Tim and I are really tired of "IT". "IT's" one of those viruses, or something, that has to run "IT's" course. I've had "IT" for almost a month, and Tim's had it a couple of weeks longer. I keep thinking I might have to break down and go to the Dr., but I don't think she'd be able to do anything.
This year, no broken bones (I hope I just didn't jinx myself), just this case of "IT". Not much snow this year, and I'm really looking forward to spring this year.