Red Eye: The Jungle

With my father waiting for the funeral home in the family room, my mother in the office/my guest room sending emails, and my uncle keeping his distance in the living room, I didn't really have any place to go to be alone except the backyard. By then it was late afternoon, and even though it was still warm, I was very cold.

My parents had had an escalating war with the backyard squirrels for several years, trying to find a bird-feeder they couldn't get to. Well, the only one that had managed to keep the squirrels out also kept almost every bird bigger than a bumblebee out, including my mother's beloved pair of cardinals. So, my parents caved about a year ago and gave the squirrels their own take-out window.



This doesn't always keep the squirrels out of the bird-feeders, though, particularly if the squirrel feeder is out or the squirrel just has a hankering for bird seed. They each seem to employ their own bizarre methods for accessing the bird feeders, though. This one shimmies down the pole, grabs a handful of seed, then climbs back up and sits on top to eat it. He'll repeat the cycle dozens of times in a row.



The yard also had a bumper crop of anoles this year. They used to be a favorite target for the cats, but the current pair are the "the females are supposed to bring home the bacon" types and so there are some very large anoles, and a zillion little babies. I mean maybe 4 inches long, half of it tail. It is somewhat amusing to walk around and make them all zoom for their home plant or tree.

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After they took my father away, Bandit once again got on the now-empty hospital bed.

He finally came in and slept against my legs that night.