Good morning to everyone of my readers!  Or whatever time of day it is where you live.  To me it’s still morning.  No matter what time of day.  Which, of course, you already know.  Unless, of course, you have not been reading these posts for very long.  For those of you in that position, I am a morning person.  I like morning.  Best time of day.  Even if you don’t like mornings.  Still the best time of day.  Try it for a while.  You just might start to enjoy it.  Or not.  Sigh.  As you know, some of my chipmunks have come back.  That’s because LB (short for nasty little squirrel) doesn’t come around much anymore.  So that is nice.  Plus, a new little chipmunk has arrived.  Obviously a young one from this year now on his own.  He was very much afraid of me for a while.  Then on Friday as I was sitting on the steps feeding the other chipmunks the new one showed up on the steps, spotted me and took off.  But he came back.  He wanted to get past me to go to the step by the door where he has obviously found peanuts before.  Finally he ran past.  He found no peanuts.  So I put one on the top step.  He ran past me again.  Then stopped.  Turned and went over to the peanut, grabbed it, and took off as fast as he could.  This happened four times.  Then I held the peanut.  He stopped.  Came over cautiously.  He sniffed my hand quite a bit, then took the peanut and took off.  But he kept coming back.  Today is Monday.  He is now coming up on my lap to get the peanuts just like the others, no longer afraid.  Not bad.  Speaking of odd things.  I was just cleaning up a bit today when the left side of my neck got stiff.  That was odd.  Only the left side of my neck.  Odd indeed.  But then, odd things are always happening to me.  Speaking of stuff.  And that really would take awhile.  Especially since I have so much stuff.  And I mean a lot of stuff.  Stuff that I don’t even know I have.  Stuff that I know I have but can’t find.  Due to so much stuff getting in the way of other stuff so that when I go looking for stuff then stuff gets in the way and I can’t find the stuff I want to find because it is hidden by the stuff I don’t want to find when I look for the stuff that I do want to find and it’s enough to make me pull my hair, bang my head against the wall, jump up and down, trip over stuff, fall down and, and…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It’s okay.  I’m calm. I’m fine.  Sigh.  How do I get so much stuff?  Now I’m not talking about normal every day useful kind of stuff.  Just stuff.  It might be useful some day kind of stuff.  But it never is.  Useful I mean.  It just sits around taking up space.  But it might be useful some day I say.  But it never is.  Months go by.  Years go by.  But I might need it some day.  I never do.  It just sits around taking up space.  But if I throw it out then I will need it the very next day.  Or week.  Or month.  Or year.  But I never do need it.  It just sits around taking up space.  Some of this stuff I only see when I move.  Admittedly I do move a lot.  So I see it a lot.  I pack it.  I unpack it.  Then it sits around taking up space.  Until I move again.  Then I pack it again.  And unpack it again.  It’s enough to make me pull my hair, bang my head against the wall, jump up and down, roll on the floor and, and…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It’s okay.  I’m calm.  I’m fine.  Sigh.  That’s enough.  Stuff I mean.  Now I am getting rid of all this ‘useful’ stuff that never is useful even though I ‘might need’ it some day but I know I never will because I never do so now it is going OUT!  Gone.  No more.  Mind you, it might take a while.  There is a lot of stuff.  Sigh.  One time in a hundred I might actually use some of this stuff.  And it won’t be there.  Fine.  Then I will go out and get more.  But at least it won’t be sitting around taking up space for the next ten years waiting for that one in a hundred possibilities that I might use that stuff and I know I WON’T.  Sigh.  Stuff.  And more stuff.  It’s going to be gone.  Speaking of fall.  It feels like fall today.  Cool, only 57F.  Or 14C for those who prefer the archaic method.  Leaves are turning yellow.  Whole trees of leaves.  Lots of leaves on the ground after that big storm last night.  Birds flocking.  Many have already headed south.  Sigh.  That cold season is coming.  Oh well.  I hope you all enjoy your week and God bless!

Steve and Muffin and Chipmunks.

Good morning everyone!  It is definitely cooler now and has a feel of fall, or autumn if you prefer.  And birds continue to leave, I have no gulls left now.  Sigh.  Other birds are congregating, or flocking, getting ready for their southward journey.  Terrible thought.  Summers are so short.  However, fall is a beautiful time of year, even though cool.  The worst part of fall is the fact that winter is not far behind.  Sigh.  On the plus side, 3 of my chipmunks have returned.  Undoubtedly because LB, the nasty little squirrel, is not around as much these days.  Rusty, Skamper and Chester are back and enjoying gathering peanuts once again.  And I am enjoying having them crawl all over me again.

Sitting on my shoulder.  Digging in my pockets.  I like to enjoy them as much as possible since they will soon be gone for the winter.  I would enjoy seeing their little homes which must be bursting with peanuts by now.  Likely they had to make extra storage rooms.  They will be fat and happy this winter.  Speaking of fat.  There was a raccoon around again last night, a different one than the two the other night, this one was big.  Muffin just stared at him intently with her tail trying to get as big as that raccoon tail.  She wasn’t able to get it there however.  Some critters I like.  Some I do not.  Such as the black and white critter the other evening.  He was certainly a chubby little critter.  Poor Whitey was enjoying his evening snack of sunflower seeds.  Until he spotted that skunk.  He certainly left in a hurry.  I’m sure he could easily outrun the skunk but I’m also sure the skunk would love to have Whitey over for dinner.  As the main course.  Whatever, Whitey was not going to find out what would happen.  Muffin was at her favorite spot at the door watching all of this and I was really hoping the skunk would not decide to come up on the deck.  And get startled by one cat hissing at him.  Sigh.  That would not be fun.  Another critter I am not fond of is mice.  Especially when they find their way into my apartment.  Like one did yesterday morning.  Early.  Muffin was in bed sleeping with me.  Suddenly she pounced.  I knew that pounce.  Sure enough she had her mouse.  And thankfully she left in nicely on the floor so she could show me when I got up.  I naturally praised her for doing such a good job protecting us from the intruder.  And while she wasn’t looking I picked it up and put it out on the feeder for the crow.  Which he enjoyed. Now it was up to me to find out how this little critter got inside.  Since it was in the bedroom I figured it came inside in the bedroom.  Sure enough.  A spot I plugged 2 years ago when there was a bunch of these critters coming in.  As well as other things.  Seems I didn’t quite close off that one hole good enough.  So I did it again.  Better.  I hope.  I do not like mice.  Especially in my apartment.  Muffin disagrees with me on that.  Fine.  But if a mouse can get in so can those monster spiders.  And that’s even worse.  Speaking of spiders.  I have been killing a lot of those things in here lately.  From 2 to 7 a day.  WAY too much.  I do not like those critters.  Read something recently about live trapping spiders and letting them go outside.  Right.  I have a different method.  It’s called STOMP, WHOMP, CRUSH, and SQUISH!  If that bothers anyone, tough beans and banana brains.  That’s what I do.  These critters grow up to be three and a half inches across.  WAY too big.  If you like the live trapping idea, feel free to come over and take as many as you want back to YOUR place.  Sigh.  I have itchy feet.  No, not that kind of itchy.  The kind of itchy that makes me want to make something.  I have odd feet.  I also get the feeling of water drops on my feet.  But there is no water drops.  Just the feeling.  I have odd feet.  Very odd.  Though I am curious about the water drops thing.  Unfortunately I can’t ask my doctor since I don’t have one.  Sigh.  One day.  Hopefully it’s nothing important.  Oh well.  Yes, I know what I forgot but I did not forget.  Next time.  Sigh.  Feel free to hit the like button below.  The one that says like.  With a star.  Enjoy your week and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.