![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lunarivervoices.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/6-15a-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Very tired today; all this limping around in a boot, especially when I have to clear up for and after contractors, is wearying. They\u2019re coming tomorrow to fix the dining room ceiling, which meant finishing Hubby\u2019s puzzle and removing the two leaves from the table to give them more room to reach the ceiling to paint. All the pictures are off the wall, the chairs are stacked in the office, and all the thingie-ma-hoosies put away (we don\u2019t have a lot of thingie-ma-hoosies). I\u2019m dreading white paint splatters over whatever area of floor or furniture they will inevitably forget to cover.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s wildlife encounters consisted of a bird species (I think a migrant blackpoll warbler) flying into my office window and bouncing back into the shrub. It was stuck there, unable to fly because it became tangled in the branches. I pulled it out, hoping it didn\u2019t have a broken wing. It flew off the second I freed it, so all good there. Our fox friend came right up close to the front door, sniffing around for something, then made her way to the back yard to scare up some chipmunks. Also found a dead mouse in the basement, stuck to one of the sticky boards I set out two years ago. It\u2019s the first mouse we\u2019ve caught in two years\u2014I thought we had the problem solved, but obviously they\u2019re still finding their way into the house. I won\u2019t be happy about this after the basement is finished. Pest control comes Thursday.<\/p>\n
I went for a bike ride this afternoon, along the trail, and through the cemetery and some neighborhood streets. I counted at least a half-dozen new graves. The weather couldn\u2019t be more perfect this evening: no wind, low 70s, and no humidity. I went out back to pick another bowl of blueberries, and a female cardinal perched on a chard plant, scolding me as if I were in her blueberry bush. I suppose I should leave some for the birds\u2014not that they haven\u2019t had their fill on cicadas for the past month. Speaking of which, our little red buggy-eyed friends are mostly gone now, save for the odd one here and there bumbling around looking for sex.<\/p>\n
In honor of National Bug Busting Day, here\u2019s a little ode to them (yes, I realize the meter is messed up):<\/p>\n
T\u2019was the week before summer and all through the region,
The cicadas were dwindling, soon they\u2019ll be leaving.
Cute they may be\u2014though not all would agree\u2014
Their deafening shrill sure did suck,
In their search for a\u2026 mating partner.
Their eggs have been laid, soon nymphs we will have
Raining down from the trees,
Driving us mad.
They will burrow underground, here, here, and here,
Not to be seen for \u2018nother 17 year.<\/p>\n
Last night we had another torrential downpour, which seem to be more frequent. The new basement door leaked underneath again, and now that\u2019s a different contractor who has to see to that before construction begins. He\u2019s also supposed to be redoing our rotting deck, but, like all other contractors around here, they\u2019re up to their eyeballs in work. It’s going to be a long summer.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"