I’m pleased as punch that the temperatures were still way above normal this week, or all that rain we got could’ve added up to as much as a-foot-and-a-half of snow. Wow!
For the last several weeks we’ve enjoyed temperatures in the 50s and 60s. I grew two tomato plants in barrels next to the house this summer. They survived last month’s killing frost and continued to produce ripening fruit until late last week. That’s unheard of for November. Some of my rose bushes are still blooming, and a few of my perennials have fresh buds. We still haven’t put away the gardening hoses or lawn mower. This craziness can’t continue!
Don’t worry, Mother Nature has a plan. She intends to slap us in the face with winter this year rather than easing us in. The high yesterday was 59 degrees. Saturday the high is supposed to be 30 with a low of 16. There’s even some talk of accumulating snow from Friday night into Saturday morning with some of the models showing 1 to 3 inches or more. Riiiiight…I’ll believe it when I see it. Well that’s what I thought until those silly squirrels entered the picture.
Yesterday I tossed some extra bird seed on the ground for them, but none came. Usually it takes less than 60 seconds for a squirrel to discover a free meal in my yard. Four hours passed and the seed still hadn’t been touched. Hello? Free seed!
That’s when I spotted them. Two squirrels scurrying around our yard frantically picking up oak leaves and stuffing them into their mouths. Once the load would get just shy of cumbersome, the beasts would shimmy up a tree to where they were each carefully crafting a nest or “drey”.
I wasn’t really freaked out about the forecast until I saw the earnestness with which they were building those dreys…while ignoring peanuts for goodness sake!
I have go search for my fleece scarf and snow shovel now…