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Today I’m going to talk about the birds who regularly come to my feeders. As well as the baby squirrels (so cute! So stupid!) and the baby chipmunks.
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I’ll never forget how one of the stellar jays learned to eat from the suet feed by watching one of the northern flickers. Before that, the jay was failing miserably at his attempt to imitate a hummingbird, hovering next to the feeder while jabbing at it.
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The jay watched the flicker carefully. First he figured out how to land on the cage holding the suet (there were many failed attempts and near-misses). Then he figured out how to angle his head so he could get at the suet.
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The funniest thing was watching the pair of them after the jay had some level of success. He was on the ground while the flicker latched onto the feeder. Then the flicker moved from one side of the cage, a particular hop that those birds have, never flailing or falling.
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I could *feel* the disgust rolling off the jay and could practically hear the taunting calls of, “Show off.”
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That jay then went on to teach the other jays how to feed from the suet. Some of them have never gotten the hang of it, but most of the group of goofballs now can feed from the suet feeder. Even if they still don’t quite have the hang of hopping and moving from one side of the cage to another.
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This week, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye while I was making my tea. Took me a while to figure out what it was.
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One of the female black-headed grosbeaks had decided to *also* imitate a hummingbird. She was trying, and failing, to hover.
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Not at one of the feeders, though. She was focused on the flower baskets hanging from my porch. She finally managed to get stable enough to grab one of the flowers and pull off a piece of it.
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All I can figure is that she mistakenly believed that those flowers were actually berries. They are bright red. She didn’t come back and try again.
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We had some cherries this year. Between the squirrels and the robins, they were all eaten. Blaze and I didn’t get any.
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The robins found the black huckleberry bushes in the yard. Blaze got to watch one attacking those, yanking berries off one by one.
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In addition, this year there have been not only baby chipmunks, but baby squirrels. I’m not sure what type of squirrel they are. They’re tiny, which would make them red squirrels. However, their back fur is gray, while their stomach fur is orangish red, not white.
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I would never try to befriend any of the squirrels. They’re gluttonous, and would eat all the birdseed if they could. But the baby squirrels don’t have a natural fear of me. They’re very curious and will peer into the door at the tiny house. When I walk out toward the feeder, they just want to hide. They need to be taught that no, they must run for the trees and get out of harm’s way.
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Why? Because we have asshole neighbors who let their cats run wild. I chase them off every time I see one near my bird feeders. We used to have pigmy bunnies on the property. The cats killed all of them, and completely wiped out our bunny population.
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The squirrels need to run, so that the cats don’t get them.
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Baby chipmunks are more timid. They do run away more readily. But they’re just as cute and funny.
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And I think that’s it for me. How has your summer been going? What has been entertaining you?
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Yay! It's here! The next novel in the Water Witch mystery series! It will be available in the KRP store on August 10th, while generally available August 21st. On August 22nd, I'll have a signing for the book at Bundok Books.
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AJ’s latest vision shows a witch poisoning a man dressed in Renaissance garb. As the troupe of actors coming to put on one of Shakespeare’s plays won’t travel to Milltown until the end of the week, AJ and Roland decide that they can still take their vacation safely.
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Only to discover when AJ and Roland arrive that the troupe hasn’t left the mountain resort town. And that a witch travels with them.
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AJ had hoped that she’d get along with any peers she might meet.
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However, the murderous leader of this coven lacks any remorse.
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And it takes only one bad apple to spoil the entire barrel.
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The Bad Apple Witch—the latest Water Witch Mystery—pits AJ against women with magical powers. Fortunately, AJ has friends (as well as other witches) she can rely on solve not just the current murder, but a whole slew of them. As well as an entire oceanside community full of quirky characters who are also more than willing to help.
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Come enjoy AJ finally finding her place, and maybe, perhaps, a sustainable living situation with Roland, her lover.
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It's July! And yes, we're offering another of my books on sale. This time, it's Live Alien Contact Omnibus.
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In the twenty-third century, one question haunts Humanity.
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Why are the aliens ghosting us? Aren’t we cool enough?
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Spread out over three hundred planets, Humans have run across the remains of only two alien species to date. Both suffered cataclysmic wars centuries before.
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Surely more aliens must be out there. Somewhere.
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Join Rosey the racer and the other quirky character on The Roadrunner (yes, run by Dennis, who'd much rather be designing things than flying a spaceship!) as they go searching for aliens.
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Though June has come and gone, we're still offering The Long Run Omnibus on sale for merely $9.99! That means four novels (yes, FOUR novels) for the cost of two. What a bargain!
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In addition, this collection is only available on the Knotted Road Press store. (Though if you go to see Leah at a live sales event, she will sell you the paper version, also for a bargain, at just $40. That's $10 a book, instead of $15 for each.)
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Judit—a hard-headed captain of a starship who may swear too much in Hungarian—gets hired by a powerful alien to break the stranglehold that the Universal Trading Cartel has on, well, everyone in the galaxy.
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Follow Judit and her quirky alien crew as they con their way across planets and through star systems, as well as all the corporate machinations.
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This omnibus contains all four books in this completed series!
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