Lake Monster Mysteries by Joe Nickell and Benjamin Radford
The Shelters of Stone by Jean Auel
What I'm knitting:
Mead Scarf
Ballband Dishcloth
For the few months, a cat has been sitting in my yard and scaring away the birds. That's all he does: sit. He killed a mockingbird back in November, so maybe he's hoping for a repeat. I used to have about 30 different species of birds at my feeders, and these are some of my favorites:
Oriole
(One of the few birds that observes me through the window without seeming fearful.)
Tufted Titmouse
(Quiet and shy. They take one seed at a time and fly away.)
Grey Catbird
(Its call sounds like a cat, but my own cat is apparently not fooled.)
Boat-tailed Grackle
(Love peanuts.)
Cardinal / Redbird
(My favorite. The same one used to sing at my window every morning. He and his mate gobbled up black-oil sunflower seeds like they were going out of style.)
There were also chickadees, wrens, sparrows, bluejays, thrushes, and mourning doves.
Now, a few squirrels and the two territorial mockingbirds trying to bully them away from the feeders are my only backyard visitors. I wish they would join forces and chase off the cat; three squirrels and two mockingbirds combined are just fearsome enough to ensure the cat never comes back.
