Weekend news

Taking out the bamboo grove was a hit to our bird habitat, and the back yard is empty and silent. We're still waiting for a new fence, which will at least give the human inhabitants here an illusion of security and sense of enclosure. I'm tired of looking at the alley and a tall fence should block most of that "view" of cars and concrete.

But everything takes so long.  With the urban village building boom going on in West Seattle, the contractors get around to small projects on their own sweet time.  I have to remind myself it's only been two months, but it feels like much longer.

Fortunately, in the front yard we still have the laurel hedge, palm, overgrown shrubs and the big holly tree, which the birds especially love. I put a sunflower seed feeder up and was surprised at the number of different birds when I was out working early on Sunday morning: Chickadees, red-breasted nuthatch, juncos, finches, towhees, wrens, white-crowned sparrows etc.

So the birds haven't all deserted us, just moved their business to a different part of the yard.  A fat squirrel climbed right up that slippery thin pole (how do they do that?)  then gave me a dirty look when he fell off.  I'm sure he'll figure it out.

Not much happened this weekend.  I'm slowly working on garden clean up and carting leaves over from across the street to mulch the beds.  John came down with a cold, which I hope he doesn't give me, because I'm going to Colorado next week.

Yesterday the Seahawks gave up an impressive early lead and then lost to the Bengals in overtime, which is always more depressing than just a plain old loss.

After the game I went to the monthly SUPA meetin' and it cheered me up, strumming and singing "Beer Barrel Polka" and "Monster Mash" with a hundred other enthusiastic ukulele players.  Driving across town, the city seemed subdued. We had chicken soup for Sunday dinner, and now the new week starts.

Today is Columbus Day, except in Seattle, where it is called "Indigenous People's Day" by order of our Mayor. He signed a proclamation last year changing the name.