The Robin Solution . . .

So far as the picture shows -- the Robin has been replaced by this rather realistic looking Cobra in a striking position. For five days now NO Robins -- so maybe we have found a reasonable solution. I found the snake on Amazon and ordered it and immediately upon delivery it took up it's guard . . . the snake so far has earned it's keep -- so to speak. Time will tell. I had not informed my wife about the "solution" and she and our luncheon guests spotted the snake on Friday after Thanksgiving.

So, a quiet week on the deck again. But the activity now intensifies with the preparations for the coming Christmas holiday -- and it always comes very fast after Thanksgiving. It seems like we hardly finish all the turkey trimmings when we begin fixing the traditional Christmas ham . . .

I have added a lot of photos on the Family Website along with a variety of folks. The tree keeps growing -- and that is a good thing. It is always fun to find articles and especially ones that have photos of folks in the tree even though newspaper photos can be dreadful . . .

Robin Pests . . .

For the last couple of years our silence -- usually in the morning, but sometimes in the afternoon, has been broken with the sounds of tapping on our deck area windows. After staking out the culprit we found it to be two large Robins. In the photo you can see one of their favorite resting spots in between the tapping.
The birds fly up to the windows and begin pecking while they flap their wings. We have tried hanging spangle type streamers to ward them off -- to no avail -- they just fly between them and peck away. This goes on for an hour or so almost every day . . . I think we have come up with a solution (after two years).
In my next blog I'll present our current solution that appears so far to be working at least for the last few days.

It is a beautiful sunny Sunday the kind of day that is crystal clear after a rainy period . . . we mostly will enjoy it while watching football . . .

Thanksgiving Buffer

It is interesting the "sense" of a buffer that occurs during the two days following Thanksgiving. It is a unique feeling for both the Friday and the Saturday . . . the two day period for me usually results in a resurgence in wanting to be creative and the resumption of this blog is an example . . .

We enjoyed the mix of friends and family over this holiday and especially we enjoyed the friends who came in from San Francisco to get away for a few days before returning to work and school -- the dinner at a favorite Japanese restaurant was certainly among the highlights . . .