Belated Updatery

[rejectomorph]

I've missed two days here. That's partly because my sleeping schedule has been unstable, and partly because I found my Flickr password, so I've been catching up with the six months of stuff I missed there. But nothing much has been happening. It's the common October pattern of mild days full of woodpecker percussion, and chilly nights full of silence. That, and the leaves falling. They aren't very colorful yet. There's a bit of red here and there, and some yellow, but it's mostly just the oaks that are turning so far, and they are merely getting flecked with brown.

The most surprising thing is that the sourgrass by my front door, which retained at least a few green stems and purple flowers throughout the summer, but was mostly dead a few days ago, has suddenly sprouted new growth. The sourgrass usually doesn't come back to life until we've had a couple of really good rainstorms. It's blooming early, while the other plants all seem to be running a bit late.

Portia is currently being rewarded with lap time. She was a very good girl while a spent half an hour on the back porch with Alger and Farah. She watched us though the window part of the time, but didn't yowl or hiss. She doesn't really like the yard cats, and often lets them know quite loudly, she but was so tolerant today that she deserves a reward. I just hope she isn't plotting some awful revenge as she purrs on my lap.

Comments

[rejectomorph]

The acorn woodpeckers are my favorite birds. There aren't many around right now because we've had a couple of years of fairly lean acorn crops, but I still see a few of the birds every day.

A few years ago there was a huge acorn crop, and the next year the neighborhood was swarming with woodpeckers. Whenever it rained, several would spend the afternoon clinging to the leeward side of the utility pole in front of my house. They are endlessly entertaining birds.