Is it a birdie? Is it an eagle?

No, it's a squirrel. It's driving players at Riverside Golf Course, well, squirrelly. The rodents keep their eyes on the balls that land on Riverside's fairways, then dart out to grab them and run.

The squirrels aren't storing the balls the way they do acorns. Instead of burying them, they take them up trees and stuff them in magpie nests.

Riverside apprentice golf pro Dillon Wilder said Wednesday no other city course appears to have the same problem. Nos. 10 and 18 are the worst for squirrel thefts. 

The squirrels' thieving ways are so common that Riverside has a special course rule.
Wilder said a player can replace his ball without penalty if fellow golfers agree where it landed on the fairway.

One theory is they put the balls in nests to drive the magpies away. In any event, a ball hawk once reportedly recovered 250 balls from a single tree. Wilder said someone spotted a ball in a tree in front of the municipal golf course's pro shop in early June, started whacking at the branch and brought down 30 balls.

Excerpts taken from The National Post at Canada.com 

Phone Spam?

I am sick and tired of these stupid hang-up calls. For months now, I have been getting phone calls from 416-924-0280, about once a week or so, where they hang up as soon as I answer the call. Now this is in of itself supremely annoying, but since I often forward my home phone to my cell when I am out, it means a wasted minute of airtime at each occurrence. Frustrated, I searched the number online. No results (of course) for any of the reverse searches I tried, and on Google, only this lone post. I was glad to find that I was not the only one (I would have started to develop paranoid tendencies soon) dealing with these morons, but why does the author of the post not include the solution offered by Telus? Was he silenced? Or......???

France update!

Here are three photos of the yard in Cenon... Dealing with so many weeds, no wonder mom's back is out!! 

The photo above was taken from near the chery trees, looking toward the street... which we can't see because of all the weeds! This is what the rest of the yard looked like before she tackled it earlier this week... overgrown right to the very doorstep!

This one was taken from the door step (the back patio door). That pile of hay near the front is was all taken from the little square in between the house and the trees ONLY. She took out all the iris from around the trees, because they were all tangled with weeds. They will be replanted after she defines the flower beds with borders, to keep the flowers in and the grass and weeds out!

 

Somewhere back there is the transplanted pink laurel. Can you spot it? It was transplanted last year from its very tight terra cotta pot (with the roots growing out of the water hole in the bottom) to its new home by the back fence. It flowered a little late this year, but seems happy where it is now.

This third photo was also taken from close to the house, but toward the right of the back yard. As you can see, four hours of mowing makes a big difference! Stay tuned for more photos, which she has promised to send when the rest of the yard has been cleared!

In the lap of luxury

Marcelle and Kiwi are evidently having the time of their lives at the Jones' residence this month. Colin's mom writes:

As you see by the photo, the pigs are having a great holiday.  They are out in an enclosure each afternoon.  Nice long greenery stuff to hide in, an umbrella for shade, frisbee for water... and usually a boy to babysit (to ward off cats, eagles, coyotes or other bad news for guinea pigs).  Sometimes they just veg out, sometimes they frolic. They have gone off apples but moved onto more sophisticated tastes like cilantro.  Hope it doesn't give them bellyache!

Granny updates

I spent about 6 hours at VGH today, grandmother-sitting.
 
[more to follow tomorrow]

{ [ ( ~ ) ] }

I should update this.

However my brain

is mush.

So sue me.

Spider-Man 2

Went to see Spider-Man 2 tonight... It was great! The dialogue was just a tad on the cliché side, but really, it suited the movie perfectly. Based on Marvel comics, it's not like the story was ever meant to be realistic and believable! All things said and done, I came out wondering when Spider-Man 3 is going to come out, and when this latest will be released in DVD format!

Are cats really better than kids?

Granted that cats don't ever argue or answer back. Is it really worth it? Do children get the runs in the bathroom, puke on the brand new living room carpet, eat so as to splatter mushed food all over the floor and surrounding walls, drool and claw your skin off when in a good mood, or knock things off the kitchen counter as they attempt to lick the dishes clean?

I leave it to you to determine.

Tempesting Template

For some reason, my main page doesn't show up like the rest of the posts do. In all the posts, and all the archives, the sidebar is where it should be: on the left hand side, next to the post. Yet here, on the main page, it is way down at the bottom, while the post is too far to the left and partially covering the background picture. What's the point having a template if it doesnt' cooperate? What am I doing wrong??

... this is what I want!!!

Check it out! A new template!

I've just spent the greater part of three hours trying to get Blogger Comments to work. I still have no idea how to do that, but at least I have a new look!

From what I understand, the comments should work on the new posts (hence this nonsensical tryout). As for past posts and previous comments, I seem to have lost everything previous to Feb 2004, but since I can't remember what they said, I guess I'll just cut my losses and move on. As for the ones that were still up, I've saved them in a local file... if I ever figure out how to transfer them into here, you'll know when you see them!