Garden Antics

Remember how I said I wasn't seeing the starlings on our bird feeder anymore? Never mind.

Yesterday's drain adventure went more smoothly than Tuesday's boiler adventure. The guy still took half the day to get here -- he showed up about 1:30 p.m. -- but he handled the problem quickly and I was able to go to work for the last two hours of the day, so that's something. My boss had planned in my absence to close the library half an hour early, but in the end we didn't have to.

I spent the morning reading and catching up on some other things. We're going to buy a new rug to go with our new couch -- which arrives next week -- so I narrowed down the choices on those and Dave and I made a selection in the evening. I'll show it to you when it arrives, hopefully around the same time as the couch. It's a little sad to get rid of the old rug, which we call the "purple grass," since Olga spent so much time lying on it just as she would the lawn outside. But we've had it since 2012 and it's looking pretty tired.

Our canna lily has sent up a new cluster of flowers! It got a late start but it's not letting up, even though the temperatures are dropping.

I also backed up my computer and downloaded the footage from the garden cam.

Key moments from this tranche (I love that word) of video clips:

1. We start with all four of our regular feline visitors: Pale Cat, Bell the Bengal, Blackie and Tabby. As you can see, I did not put a whole lot of energy into those names.
2. At 0:54, the fox shows up and discreetly does his business behind some bushes.
3. At 1:15, squirrel antics.
4. At 1:33, Bell sniffs at three pieces of leftover sushi I put out for whoever wanted it. She doesn't eat it, but a couple of magpies appear and polish it off.
5. At 2:35, magpies and a squirrel.
6. At 2:53, a very weird shot of an animal's back as it walks extremely close to the camera. It looks a bit like a furry Loch Ness Monster sliding by. I can't tell if it's a fox or a cat.
7. At 3:12, an especially crazy squirrel.
8. At 3:32, Bell the Bengal ambles leisurely past, and then trots quickly in the opposite direction. Something alarmed her!
9. At 4:03, the best shots of the fox -- or possibly foxes. The clip from 8:19 p.m. shows one animal, but I think the last clip, from 2:30 a.m., shows another. The tail doesn't look the same -- no white tip. What do you think?

You'll notice that the camera moves around a bit. I've been experimenting with different locations, but I still think the vantage point shown at the beginning of the video is the best so far.