Thursday, March 27, 2008

The saga of the Bears & the Bird Feeder

It has always been a pleasure of mine to offer sunflower seeds to the migrating birds that come through my yard on the hill. Cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches & rose crested grosbeaks are visitors to my feeder. It has become more difficult to do this because of the hungry bear that savagely beats up my feeder. The bear simply bends the metal bar like it was made of taffy and feasts away while laying on his/her back.
Who would think that two opposing creatures of nature are competing for the meager handful of seeds that I provide. For the moment it appears that the bear has created a temporary moratorium to my practice. As soon as I straighten the bar however the feathered creatures who have flown a great distance back to the Northeast forests will once again be able to nibble on those Black oil sunflower seeds that I know they love.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Ticks, Dogs, Brooklyn & Me....

Spring is here and although I have looked forward to it I have fallen victim to one of its hazards.
Frolicking in the early morning in Brooklyn's Prospect Park with the dogs Ranger & Oscar was allot of fun. I did not expect to find a fat engorged tick feeding on my abdomen later that night. I removed it & the resulting wound looked raw and mean. My friend who I was staying with has no first aid supplies in the house so I could not clean it as well as I would have at home with the peroxide or betadine. I was thinking of going to Brooklyn Methodist hospital but it was well past midnight and I thought that there are so many more serious medical emergencies that I would look like a total neurotic wimp.
Upon my return home, 36 hours later I visited my friendly neighborhood physician who examined me and thought that some tick body parts may still have been imbedded which he said would eventually work themselves out. Not too worry. I was prescribed a hefty dose of doxycycline. Two large pretty sky blue capsules both of which to be taken immediately.
It has been a long snowy, cold winter in New England and as I welcome the warmth of the sun, one now finds comfort in the frozen blanket of snow and ice that covers the parasites that exist dormant underneath to plague us with many viral poisons.
The old expression of winter being "the great purifier" rings true to me loud anbd clear.
Happy Spring anyway to all of you.