A hawk has decided that our bird feeder is the perfect place to find his afternoon snacks.
It’s ticking me off. I haven’t made a count, but I know that we have fewer birds at the feeder this year than usual. We have an overabundance of cheery little sparrows, but fewer chickadees, juncos, cardinals, blue jays, and mourning doves.
It’s very possible that there are more feeding stations now that we have more neighbors. And it’s also possible that because of the drought, the birds have shifted to areas where more food is naturally available. But the darned hawk isn’t helping matters.
There wasn’t a bird in sight the other day, so I watched the trees for a moment, and found Mr. Hawk quietly blending in with the branches. I opened the window and shouted at him. I tried to shoo him off, and he ignored me.
Nothing irritates me more than ignorance. (Sorry…..that’s one of Elegante Mother’s puns that seemed to fit here. *G*)
And, one other thing to consider, it’s possible that we are feeding more of the ground based wildlife. It’s been warm enough for the raccoons to be out and about, and those little buggers know how to strip the feeders of seed. The birds kick a lot of seed to the ground while they feed, and the squirrels and deer are sure to be helping.
We need to eavesdrop on the gathering at night to see just who is enjoying the feed.

January is the month of organization. Out with the old, in with the new.
We’re a bit late removing our Christmas decorations. I started taking them down today. I’m going to need a step ladder to remove the wreaths around the carriage lights. It was easy to get them on, but it may be difficult to remove them. I plan to spend a few days in the basement repackaging the decorations and shelving them. I think this is the year that a number of things will finally be pitched out.
Yesterday, I prepared the binders for 2006 for our company. Tomorrow I’ll have to type the file folder labels, and Monday I’ll box up 2005 and start the filing for 2006.
I’ve also started sorting our personal papers. I won’t have everything I need to do taxes until February, but there’s no reason not to get a jump on gathering what is here in the house.
I suppose, in a way, that the loss of my stepson is affecting my need to be organized. When it’s my time, I hope to make things easy on whoever has to speed my journey.
Last night I started hand sewing the binding on the batik quilt. Closure. I think this is as much about closure as it is about organization.