Downy

The most abundant woodpecker in our woods is the tiny Downy Woodpecker, measuring approximately 6 inches/15 cm.  Recently I've seen as many as 10 at one time around the feeders/trees in the yard.  That bodes well for the breeding season this spring, assuming that most survive the winter.  They are very friendly little birds, allowing me to get within a few feet of them.  They are also frequently engaged in little games of aggression with one another - most of which consists of bobbing up and down on the branch with an occasional wing flutter.  Less frequently some actual physical contact occurs although rarely anything that looks serious.

I woke up feeling congested so I tested and came up Positive again.  However, false positives aren't uncommon following a covid infection so I will monitor myself for other symptoms.  As of right now, I am still planning to go to Nosework with Jax tomorrow, although masked of course.  I can't believe that both Hubs and I would get a rebound case - that really would be statistically improbable.  Meanwhile, I am staying in touch with Suzanna as she and her hubs both  work through covid.  I think the newest strains here in the US are just so incredibly transmissible that it's quite hard to avoid it.  

When I took Jax out this morning, I didn't look first - so he spotted the deer in the yard before I could leash him.  He was off in a flash and didn't stop until he was out of sight in the woods.  I was yelling for him to "come" but he was totally in touch with his inner Catahoula Dog, hot on the trail of prey. and totally deaf to my commands.  Finally, I caught him on the far side of our neighbor's property, the little shit.  A bit later, once he'd calmed down, we had a nice walk.  I've scheduled him for day care on Thursday - hopefully he can get some good play time!  

As a side note - several months ago I was having some pretty bad neck pain so I decided to purchase this small roundish cervical spine pillow.  You basically lay on your back with it under your neck, head kind of hanging.  It acts like traction, expanding the vertebrae.  Well, I am sold!  Within only a week of starting to use it, my neck started to feel so much better!  In fairness, I have had cervical traction before for my neck and it worked wonders, so that this would work isn't all that surprising.  I do it once a day now for 10 minutes and my neck feels almost like a 20-year old neck.  Almost.  

Dark with nuts today.

xo
Debbi