Miscellaneous

/ J. F. Riordan

I am preoccupied with novel writing, so my thoughts are uncollected this morning.

My friend, Julie, she of Christmas tree adventure fame, called me this morning to cancel our belated joint birthday celebration for tonight. She hasn’t been feeling well, but she always cheers me. Her young grandson has signed up for school band and decided to take up the trumpet. When asked why he chose that particular instrument he explained that it was because it only had three buttons.

She also sent me this gallows edition of the cheerful birdseed snowman her daughter had given her. It’s become so morbid she’s decided it will have to be cut down, no matter how delicious the birds find it.

I don’t generally feed birds with or without moribund snowmen, mostly because the turkeys kept sitting on the birdfeeders and breaking them. But the deer have been visiting regularly in hope of finding the seeds I put out during last month’s extreme cold. I feel a bit guilty, but I try to hold firm on my only in extreme conditions policy. My late father always said deer were “vectors for disease”, which is completely true, but they are so innocently beautiful, it’s difficult to remember. Auggie and Eli help keep me in mind of ticks, however. Two dogs of my acquaintance have been diagnosed with Lyme disease recently, and we don’t need that.

Turkeys—despite their unconstructive birdfeeder habits—do make themselves useful in their consumption of ticks. I also encourage possums—but only morally, as I am unaware of any particular method of enticing them, aside from seeds, which seem likely to deter tick consumption. Are there possum houses?

I am pro-possum. This guy likes to stand on his hind legs and look in the bedroom windows. He is unfazed by German Shepherd Frenzy.

The weekend approaches, and with our Friday night newly free, I suppose we will fall upon the tried and true drinks by the fire and dogs on the feet. If we feel ambitious and the wind doesn’t come up, we will venture outside with our cognac snifters and have a bonfire.

The dogs will love that.

I leave you with some gratuitous dog footprints: the peculiar paw pattern of a standard dachshund. No, not Frank, but Oscar, the wire-haired dachshund. My family are dachshund people on all sides.

My sister’s wire-haired dachshund, Oscar.
My niece’s standard dachshund, Frank, on a recent rainy day. He is unchanged by success.

32 thoughts on “Miscellaneous”

  2. The photo of Frank reminds me of the Miniature Dachshund we had when I was a kid. She appeared in a rainstorm one night at the home of my mom’s colleague. He had large dogs and was afraid they would hurt her, so my mom told him we would take her. For reasons unbeknownst to me, Mom named her Judy. She always sat next to my step-dad in his chair, and she had her own towel. She gnawed holes in it and would poke her nose through them just like Frank. She was a character!

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  3. I love this Miscellaneous Reflection for so many reasons. First of all, I hope your friend, Julie, feels better soon. I actually laughed out loud at the ‘three buttons’ comment about her grandson. And the moribund snowman is quite charming. She has a very delightful family.

    And I really feel you should name your adorable possum and find a place for him in your book. Maybe he could terrorize a certain female character.😂. By the way, Oscar and Frank are so very cute.

    Whatever you do this evening, I’m sure you’ll have an enjoyable time. Delicious drinks by the fire (either inside or out) and the love of Auggie and Eli, make for the perfect evening.

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  5. Funny you should mention ticks. We just got our dog the first of two vaccinations for Lyme disease this morning. We had a similar situation with a neighbor who lost their seven year old black lab after it contracted Lyme disease and passed away. Sadly the vet said she sees several dogs with Lyme disease on a weekly basis and once it affects the kidneys it’s almost always game over for the dog. Hopefully Eli and Auggie are vaccinated, especially living in such a wooded area.

    We live in an urban area but have a large wooded park where we often take our dog on walks, so I feel better now that she has the first of the two vax’s.

    Enjoy the weekend whether inside or out!

    Sharon

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  7. As always your column is a bright spot to another tumultuous news week. The dogs are adorable as is Mr. Possum. Enjoy your weekend and thank you for your hard work in sharing your stories and pictures. They help so much.

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  8. Hey Jan …
    It’s Barb Pfeifer … your “mom” in Fiddler … a hundred years ago … 😉

    Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your writings. Not being a particularly religious person, I look to them to provide me with my daily dose of serenity, reflection and escape from the fray. Oh … and they make me smile.
    Thank you.
    B

    Sent from my iPhone
    “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
    Plato

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  9. Such an enjoyable post this cloudy Friday morning here in Denver!
    I took note of your caption comment, “This guy likes to stand on his hind legs and look in the bedroom windows.” I have never seen a possum in real life and never realized they could stand that tall! 🤣 Hope you don’t mind the tease. 😊 So many fun things in this post, such as the bird seed snowman (think Addams Family) and Frank unaware he fell asleep in his ghost costume! 👻 You and Charlie and the boys enjoy your day – every bit of it!

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    • Possums, being prehistoric creatures, continue growing all their lives. The trick is for them to surmount their tendency to stand and stare at oncoming cars, which sadly tends to stop their growth. Also, our windows are low.

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  10. “My” deer avail themselves of my bird feeders routinely despite the fact that they hang mere inches from my front windows. In yesterday’s heavy snow, my freshly licked-clean (save for one single pistachio, swollen with deer saliva) bird feeder hung at a precarious angle, weighed down by a damp snow cap which had frozen tightly to the little blue roof after slipping sideways enough to unbalance the bird feeder. It looked embarrassed, stripped naked and left to hang.

    Despite not feeding the deer, they are fed. Sigh. Setting myself a phone reminder to bring in the bird feeder after dark each night…

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  11. I bet the highlight of that possum’s day is creating Dog Frenzy. As your other readers say, your daily journal is very soothing.

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  13. I’m with your father on the deer. In addition to spreading disease, they eat just about anything you care to grow, and cause car accidents. With few natural predators, they are a menace to the ecosystem.

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  17. Love those dachshund tracks! I can even picture how they were created. It makes me laugh! We had a peacock who believed that landing on the bird feeder in our yard was a good idea so I understand exactly what you experienced with the turkeys. It’s quite a sight to watch that feat of balancing until the stress level of the feeder is reached. I also have to add it’s very amusing to listen to a peacock attempt a landing on a tin roofed garage. The scraping sound and clatter as they try to get a foothold is humorous. That’s how the bird feeder landings began since it was beside the garage. 🤣

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  18. Ha! That snowman is rather gruesome. Regarding possums, I have four cats and any leftover soft food from their twice daily feeds (crunchies out all day) I put it out and have seen possums gobble it right up. So now I’m feeding possums. 🙂

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