Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Why all the Racket?



I heard some chittering in the back yard yesterday. I ignored it since the squirrels are always chittering at something. However, this went on longer than normal and was getting pretty loud and anxious. I decided to go check it out in the back yard and saw Momma squirrel on a branch in the walnut tree. She was watching intently at what was going on below her.
This is Momma Squirrel
 Upon further investigation I found:



 The Cat
I watched her for a few minutes thinking she was after a mouse. (She's a good mouser), but then I started putting two and two together and came up with five.
Maggie, The Cat, finally gave up on her quest and went away (two feet) and laid down.
Momma Squirrel quit chittering. This didn't mean much as the squirrels are always yelling at the cats.
I went over and looked in to where Maggie, The Cat, had been trying to get a mouse.


And this is what I saw.


The cause of the racket
Its a bit bigger than a mouse and isn't he/she cute? Yip a Baby Squirrel is trapped behind a board. There were other things leaning up against the house, so he was pretty well protected. The hole was too small for her to get in and there were places for Baby to go, he just couldn't get out.And by the time I figured out what was happening, he was pretty terrified.


Oh oh, enter The Dog. He heard something behind the board and off he went. He wasn't as playful as The Cat. That's Charlie, and he is a terrier mix and loves to play with the cats, chase the squirrels at the lake and  Baby Squirrel was just another fur thing to chase. Charlie scared Baby Squirrel so much that Baby ran up the board and got stuck at the top between the board and wall.





That's Baby Squirrel being rescued. My son took the board with Baby on it and let Baby get into the walnut tree. Momma Squirrel joins Baby and they both leave. A few minutes later, here comes Momma Squirrel carrying Baby Squirrel in her mouth. I figure she took Baby Squirrel back to the nest.  I wasn't able to get a picture of Mom carrying Baby as she was moving too fast and the two really blended in.

Hope you have enjoyed my story. 

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Blue Moon

A Blue Moon is the appearance of the third full moon in a season that has four full moons, instead of the usual three.Since a blue moon occurs only every two or three years, the term blue moon is used to mean a rare event, as in the phrase "once in a blue moon". (info from Wikipedia)
We went camping over the Labor Day weekend and were treated to a fairly rare occurrence. A Blue Moon. So theoretically we went camping "once in a blue moon". Actually we camp a lot and are treated to Mother Nature's beauty and bounty quite often..
I'm trying to figure out the "season" for this moon. According to the calendar, summer starts in June and ends in September.However, for this Blue Moon, the first of the four full moons is in July and the fourth comes after the first day of Fall. Since June's full moon is before the first day of Summer why is the full moon in September counted? So, I'm confused. Just like I'm confused about how they arrive at when Easter is. Not going to go into that one. If you figure it out and can relay it in terms I can understand, let me know.