The title above is owing to my recent purchase of yet another wild bird suet feeder.  Last night, an unwanted visitor wrecked the last feeder. Was it a squirrel or a hungry something else?  We might live in an urban area, but just try telling the skunks, raccoons and possums that visit us they are in the wrong place. And that is to say nothing of their predators the coyotes. Yes, its Dances with Wolves all over the county.  

Bushtits mass on a birdfeeder in Salem, Oregon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ever the frugal one, David repaired the old feeder for the umteenth time, and I was insufficiently grateful and threw it in the trash, so he is now ‘taking a nap.’ This was the fourth or fifth time the feeder had been dislodged. broken and tossed on the ground empty.  Not being insane, I bought a new double whammy type suet feeder that allows my beloved Chickadees and Woodpeckers entry.  Oh yes, the Nuthatch can come too.

Meanwhile the Cardinals can eat their favorite food at the feeder the vermin can’t reach.

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We had a nice holiday doing nothing. We acted as if it was just another day. Quite frankly after the horrible events of the past few weeks, I was not in the mood. Especially when the papers report gun sales were at an all-time high.

David’s daughter came by and took her Dad to his favorite eatery, and my sons who live out-of-town called.  My daughter called too. She was just getting her holiday cards in the mail on Christmas Eve. She is a first-year school teacher and having a 70-hour week put a damper on her preparations for the holidays.  We will see her and her family on Saturday. 

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After I heard Nina Totenberg on PBS’ Inside Washington recommend the book, I spent my holiday reading Passage of Power, the Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume IV, by Robert Caro. I put the book aside after I fell asleep the third time.  Now I am reading David Von Drehle’s much more captivating book on Abraham Lincoln, Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year. If you think times are tough now, check out Von Drehle’s book, named one of the top books of 2012 by the New York Times.

Oh our other ‘fun’ thing was watching the Wallender episodes I had prerecorded. What a great new series, and the atmosphere fit my mood perfectly.