Fortunately I was allowed to go and see my daughters (4 and 8), so I took them out to eat at Einstein Bagels, which is where my eldest daughter likes to go for breakfast.  They are usually pretty good when I take them out to eat, and after breakfast we headed down to Topeekeegee-Yugnee Park (popularly known as T-Y Park), which is only a couple of miles up the road from where they live.  T-Y Park is pretty large, 150 acres, and they enjoy not only the playground, but also walking around the large lake, feeding the Squirrels, and especially petting each and every dog that passes or comes close to them.

Today it was pretty hot and sticky, close to 90 degrees and not much of a breeze at first, so I took them to the playground, where they had a good time, and then we wandered across to the lake.  It has been raining so much the last couple of weeks, that the level of the lake is close to 2 feet higher than normal, so it’s larger, deeper, and the fish seemed to be having a good time, as well as the dogs that were swimming in there.  Walking around the far side of the lake we found someone who had 2 large black dogs that enjoyed swimming, and they would race each other to get to every stick that the girls threw into the water.  They had a great time.

We also fed the Squirrels, or at least I did.  Someone had left a pile of peanuts on one of the picnic tables, so I grabbed a few and had the Squirrels eating out of my hand.  Unfortunately the first Squirrel who I tried to feed wasn’t too sure, so instead of reaching out for the peanut, he clawed my finger and then bit it, his claw drawing blood, but so far I don’t seem to have suffered any infection.

Being a Friday there were fewer people there than usual, and subsequently there were more Squirrels, Birds and Iguanas out.  We usually see quite a lot of Squirrels, and birds too, but today I managed to get some good photos of a Blue Jay, almost got decent ones of a Kingfisher, and I got excellent ones of a couple of the larger Iguanas that were out sunning themselves on the grass.

Their Mom wanted them back by 12:30pm, so after the park we headed to Wendys, usually easy to get a quick bite for lunch, but today it was packed, and since this must be about the slowest Wendys in the country (service is always horribly slow, pathetic, and they take an hour to clean up and mess or restock too), we headed to McDonalds instead.  Now this isn’t the best either, but today it was practically empty and at least the service was quick.

Back to the house, dropped them off, got my usual myriad of hugs from my eldest, much to the disgust of her Mother, who usually just wants me out of there as quickly as possible, and back home, via my local Walmart to do my weekly grocery shop.  Now for the last 2 months they have been completely revamping the food section, and it’s a nightmare trying to find anything.  So since today was chaotic in there, I just got most of the essentials and then headed to the Farmers Market down the road for the rest.  The service here is really good, friendly, and the prices are good too.

 When I left my ex, I moved into a flat (apartment) as that was all I could afford.  I felt so closed in and really missed just being able to open the door and wander out.  I was so excited to have a garden again.  

In no time at all, I had spotted a squirrel running around and burying things in the lawn.  I started putting peanuts out to encourage him.  Having just moved in and all the expenses that brings, I didn’t have any spare cash to go and buy elaborate feeders from the garden center, so I improvised and dropped the peanuts down on the decking.  The squirrel soon found his new dinner table and would happily come to visit and then bury his newly found stash.  He would even run up the lopped tree trunks and sit on the top looking out across the neighbouring gardens.  I fell in love with that little chap… well, not so little actually.  He was probably one of the fattest squirrels I’ve ever seen!

Then came the fateful day that I didn’t replenish the dinner table.  The squirrel was obviously determined to get every last scrape of peanut that was left..  He was so determined in fact, that he gnawed a chunk of decking away in his efforts to get to the tiny pieces that had fallen between the planks of decking…   oh dear…    So the dinner table moved to a paving slab.

The birds soon found the peanuts and treats too.  I was so excited to see all the different types of birds visiting MY little garden.  There were Robins, Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Sparrows, Chaffinches to name a few.  Ok, the occasional Magpie and Wood pigeon stopped by too… but they’re not so pretty, so I ignore them.

Then Christmas arrived, and so did Tony.  Via Tony, Santa gave me a Squirrel feeder and a fancy bird feeder all the way from America WOO HOO!!!   My Mother had also given me a bird feeder which was waiting to be put up, so there was Tony, the day after Christmas in the freezing fog, putting up feeders around the garden for me.  We visited the local garden center to buy a variety of seeds and then filled each feeder very carefully.  We also bought a plastic dish so that the ground feeding birds could enjoy coming to my garden too.

In no time at all, the robin and blue tits and all the other birds had found their new source of food and were happily feeding away.  No sign of that fat, overfed, deck gnawing squirrel though.  I was so happy to be attracting the wildlife into my garden and even though it was bitterly cold, I could sit in the lounge with my nose pressed against the window and watch all these wonderful little creatures feeding in my garden.  Hey, I even got up around 2 am one night when next doors security light came on to see if a fox had triggered it.

So, a new variety of wildlife finally came to my garden.  What was it?  I hear you cry!  A fox?  No.  A badger?  No.  A Hedgehog? No.  What do I get?  I get the worlds largest ever rat, and not only do I get a rat, I get a rat that decides to die in my garden… the audacity of it!!!  Thank goodness Tony found it and not me… you’d have heard the scream all the way across the pond LOL!!  Have we given it a formal burial?  Have we heck… it’s in the dustbin (garbage) waiting to be collected tomorrow

I’ll let you know when Tubby the  squirrel returns.