Weather, Old Movies, and Squirrels

 Today has been a static day for our weather. This morning looked pretty nice, sunshine and warmish temperatures in the mid-30s, but this afternoon it's been overcast and although the temperature is at 38F, there is nothing to really rescue the day from ending up in the "blah" category. It's not bad to have one of these days after getting considerable snow. It's probably better not to have very warm sunshine and lots of melting right away.

Here at Joe's Pond we got mostly a mix of rain and snow yesterday, but none of it amounted to measurable snow and I had only .12 inch of precipitation in my measuring tube this morning. The snow pack has settled somewhat, but the road is slushy again, after freezing overnight. I haven't been out today. When I was in town on Thursday, I put my car through the car wash, even though I knew it would get messed up again on the way home. At least I got some of the mud and slush off, and I don't get dust marks on my clothing when I'm getting into or out of the car.

Diane sent a picture of the Ice-Out setup this morning. It looks like some of the stakes holding the rope out of the snow have sunk unto the snow. Or toppled over. It's hard to tell. I hadn't noticed before that there are two "flags" out there. Diane said that is so people on snow machines can spot the flag more easily. Nice picture, and thanks, Diane.

There is notice in the Caledonian Record today that Elaine Metcalf, a neighbor on Deeper Ruts Road, died last Sunday. Elaine was well known for her garden produce over the years, and many campers enjoyed getting fresh veggies from her. Health issues have plagued Elaine for a number of years, and we are sorry to hear she has passed. She was a free spirit and a good neighbor. Her obituary is in today's paper.

I watched an old movie, The Westerner at lunch time. It is an old Gary Cooper movie, with Walter Brennan and Doris Davenport. Forrest Tucker, Dana Andrews, Chill Wills and Lillian Bond all had lesser parts, but the movie was made in 1940 and I had a hard time picking out those familiar stars. Cooper and Brennan are unmistakable, even after all these years, but the others, not so easy to recognize. According to Wikipedia, Garry Cooper wanted to withdraw from the movie when he found that Walter Brennan also had a leading role. Cooper apparently thought Brennan was a big enough star to carry the picture without him; but he was under contract and finally agreed to be in it. He had made several movies with Brennan before, and after The Westerner, they were in four other movies together. Brennan won his third Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Judge Roy Bean. Cooper wasn't nominated for any award for his role in that movie, but during his career he won two Best Actor awards and was nominated for his roles in several other movies. He died in 1961, at age 60.

Now the sun is back, just in time to sink behind the hill. It's nice to see, even if only briefly. 

Yesterday morning, as I was sitting in my chair in the living room talking with Jamie on the phone, when suddenly I heard a scratching at the window and when I looked, there was a red squirrel clinging to the very narrow ledge of the big picture window, on his way to the bird feeder. I was furious. The one feeder I thought was safe from him had finally been breached. I was sure he had jumped from the pile of snow built up from shoveling off the deck. I took his picture and then opened the window next to the feeder and shooed him away. He jumped off into the snow below and I closed the window and went back to the phone. Within minutes, he was back. I'm still not sure how he managed, but I think he jumped up and was able to cling to the narrow ledge under the window and then climbed the vinyl-clad window casing to get to the feeder! It seemed altogether easy for him, once he'd figured it out! I frightened him off several times, but it was becoming a game and I was losing. I finally took in the tray of bird seeds so when he jumped up there was nothing for him. He was totally confused, and finally left. Later I moved the feeder further up on the window, still within arm's reach so I can clean it and keep food in it, and probably Pesky Squirrel could scramble up to it if he realized it was back - with food. As far as I can tell, he hasn't been up on the ledge again; perhaps he somehow knew I had made several snowballs and left them on the deck with the intention of pegging them at him if he got up there again. I don't know.  I couldn't believe he could cling to the vinyl on the side of the house. They are clever little beasts. It isn't as if he doesn't get his share of the birds' food.They always kick out plenty of seeds for him to pick up on the ground below, so he really doesn't have to be a glutton and raid the feeder. He's entertaining, but so frustrating!