Eureka!

Or so she seemed to be saying upon discovering a small stash of peanuts at the top of the deck stairs!  This one is just about tame enough to take peanuts from my hand, the little scamp.  She started visiting the feeder on our deck railing and hauling of cheeks full of sunflower seeds a few weeks ago.  Rather than taking them to her den, she buries them in various places around the garden.  I know this because there are patches of 15+ sunflowers sprouting in places I know I've never scattered seeds!  And in places I don't really want the sunflowers growing.  

I chose this shot because her little bottle-brush tail is standing up, a sign of excitement or alarm in chippies.  In this case, I'm going to say "excitement".  Her biggest dilemma?  How to get more than two peanuts in her mouth.

Meanwhile, my day started when I glanced out the bathroom window and saw...the bear.  I ran downstairs in my jammies, turned the alarm off, opened the back door and gave one blast on the air horn.  Bear levitated and shot into the woods.  Leaving Crazy Woman feeling very smug.  Fast forward a few hours when Crazy Woman returned from the grocery store...to find one of the bird nest boxes lying on its side, door ripped off. Crazy Woman is now pissed.  But also glad that there wasn't an active nest in that box, and also glad that it was the oldest box rather than one of the fancier new ones.  

I am now resigned to not leaving the house without the air horn.  What a pain, but it's really for the best until the bear moves on.  

Speaking of bears, thank you for all the love on the little Felon yesterday!  He/she is now on the Pops page - kind of ironic, no?

My bestie, Kura, is on her way out from the City as I type this.  I've got a nice bottle of Prosecco chilling and a plank of cedar soaking.  We'll hang on the deck, swill down some bubbly, and grill salmon - hopefully without any furry black visitors.

In other news, the second pair of wrens seems to be settling in and may have chosen a box (hopefully).  The bluebirds still continue to keep their babies hidden in the trees, but come daily for mealworms.  The chickadees have disappeared, but that's normal after they fledge.  They'll be back in a few weeks.  And I heard baby cardinals up in the trees late yesterday which means that at least one brood has fledged - mom and dad were carrying mealworms up to the trees where lots of chip-chip-chipping was heard.  

Three other photos on Flickr starting HERE with the Chipmunk Cha Cha. Spoiler alert - the third image is a tiny spider that you might want to skip if you really hate spiders. Otherwise, it's kind of cute.

That's a wrap!