random thoughts

Some random stuff from the last month or so:

• There are no acorns this year. There were tons last year. I am not sure if the unusual weather affected the oaks or if they just don’t produce them every year. I’ll be curious to see what happens next year. Seemingly unrelated to acorns is the rather high number of ticks found on the dog this fall (the thought of which freaks me out by the way). But I read somewhere that ticks prefer mice and there are likely fewer mice around because of the lack of acorns. I wonder if the squirrels are going to go a bit hungry as well. Crazy how this circle of life stuff works. These are all things I would never have even considered before living here. 
• The sound of a bird smacking in to a window is not pleasant. Unfortunately, it occurs several times per day.
• I like having flowers on the mantel, like these a friend thoughtfully brought over a couple weeks ago. Sadly they are on their way out now. 
• There is a red-bellied woodpecker that’s been coming to our bird feeder quite often lately, but it has eluded my camera, much to my frustration. I love the almost neon orange color of it’s head and think it should be called the red-headed woodpecker, but that name belongs to a different bird. And speaking of red, I like the cardinals, too.
• Halloween + 2 birthdays in one week = lots of sugar (and baking)! I made a cake, 2 dozen cupcakes, 2 pumpkin pies, and 2 trays of brownies for various school, work, and home festivities. I actually love baking, but cooking is a different story. Too bad desserts don’t count as real food/meals.