December 3, 2006
We've been having some unpleasant weather here in the great O-ho. All last week it was in the mid-60s and sunny, which is not the unpleasant part, although is somewhat of a dark harbinger of things to come when it happens at the tail end of November. And indeed, two days ago the cold weather finally arrived on the edge of a storm front that carried with it high winds and rain (although sadly, no snow). At one point I looked outside my window to see branches from our sycamore tree flying horizontally past the window. It was a little disconcerting, to put it mildly. All of the trees in the back yard were swaying wildly back and forth, neighbors' trash cans were disgorging their contents into a whirlwind of junk mail, soda pop cans, and frozen food boxes, and at the end of the day when we surveyed the damage, the roof was all clear, the sycamore tree was intact, but... we lost the dead oak tree down at the edge of our property line.
It being dead and all, this was not a huge surprise to anyone, although it has stood through some pretty severe weather prior to this. It's in a sort of protected dip, surrounded by taller trees and shielded from the wind. Not shielded enough for this windstorm, though. It's lying in the back yard in several pieces. The worst part is that that's where the albino squirrel used to live.
A little digression here: People think I make the albino squirrel up. I am not making this up. There is a freaking albino squirrel living in our back yard. I thought when we first moved in that one of the neighbors had a very small poodle, but then I saw it run straight up the side of the tree and realized it was a pure white squirrel. I've seen it feeding from our bird feeder (damn squirrels) on occasion, and it even has the characteristic pink eyes. Albino. No question.
So the albino squirrel is cool, even though in general I hate squirrels and their bird feeder-destroying ways, and I hope it finds a new habitat soon. The tree's been down in our yard for a day or two, so presumably that's enough time for him to move his stash somewhere more safe. We're going to move the tree this afternoon.
We also have big plans to trim the hedges out front, finish raking the leaves -- or, what's left of them after the cyclone-force winds blasted them all to hell and gone -- and bagging them up, and maybe even put up Christmas lights. And move the albino squirrel habitat somewhere where it is not splayed out all over the damn yard. Anyone want to come over and do some yard work for us this afternoon? Ha ha.
Posted at December 3, 2006 10:46 AM
Posted by: Jane at December 3, 2006 12:22 PM
wow, Jan - I was thinking you were still in Seattle, it's been so long since I've read you. I love holidailies, I'm finding a bunch of my old reads from 5 years ago.. :)
~Jane (formerly of allineediseverything)