THIRSTY
Good morning dear friends!
Thursday, March 11
Yes, it's morning here on the coast of Maine but a dreary one. We are having a mild spell (52 degrees F) but it is soon to drop back down in the 20's again. A depressing thought, truth be told. I have been in a slump lately and that is why I haven't posted. I have caught and released 7 red squirrels in the past two weeks. I realized after the first few that maybe the same ones are returning so I released them elsewhere, about a half mile away. Then I looked out the window one morning and there were 12 of the little buggers eating bird seed under the feeders. So, I said to Mom "We are going to have to stop feeding the birds." It is one of her favorite past times to stand at the kitchen sink and watch the activity of the birds, squirrels, and deer.
I have torn our upstairs apart trying to figure out where they are getting in. No clue. So, I think it may be time to call in the professionals. The closest, according to the internet, is in Bangor, about 65 miles away. I don't know what they can do that I haven't done but...I am out of ideas. I am starting to feel like I am lost at sea without a rudder.
Moving on. These days I find myself thirsty for color. I haven't been off the Island for ages but I really need a pot of colorful flowers, maybe pansies, that I can stick somewhere within my daily activities to bring a bit of cheer. Most people don't bring them in the house, but I am not most people. I really must cross the bridge and go to Ellsworth!
We've had some very pretty days lately. I am so blessed to be surrounded by natural beauty no matter where I am on the Island. The down side is a grey landscape. However when the sun shines the sky is a beautiful blue and the ocean alternates between green and blue. Being outside this week has been refreshing and revitalizing because there’s always a breeze. We may think we are having a heat wave with temps in the 50’s but Roger is telling me it hit 72 in Bethlehem, PA today. Wow. I bet the shorts and flip flops made an appearance in the city. Especially with the teens.
Out My Kitchen Window
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| These pictures were taken two years ago on this day. |
I love Lighthouses!
Eagle Island
The next picture is not a good one. I took it by zooming in with my iPhone on Eagle Island that sits a couple of miles off Deer Isle. In fact we can see it's white light flashing every four seconds from one of our front windows at night. I find it fascinating and I don’t know why I haven’t been on it. As a kid when my dad was a fisherman, before he became an entrepreneur, we would often times spend our Sundays picnicking and exploring the local islands. When I was 13 in 1963 there was a big hoopla about what was going to happen on Eagle Island. I do remember that the keepers house that was connected to the lighthouse was thought to be in jeopardy of being vandalized, since other unmanned lighthouses were having problems. So the coast guard decided to burn the keepers house and the other out buildings down! What a shame. It was a perfectly good house but not lived in. The light had become automated. (The light is now solar powered.) When the fog bell was turned off and removed from the bell house it was accidentally dropped off the cliff and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. But some years later it was found in deep water by a local fisherman and dragged to another island not far away. Great Spruce Head Island, owned by John Porter, (renowned artist) and a family my grandmother used to be employed by as their cook. She would stay on Great Spruce Head Island while the Porter’s were in residence during the Summer. The bell was installed on their land and is there today.
Eagle Island is about a mile and a quarter long and a half mile wide. The lighthouse land covers over 600 acres but is owned separately from the rest of the island which is owned by the Quinn family. I believe there are two year round residents. And, there's a coastguard certified mail boat that goes to Eagle, Butter, Barred, and Great Spruce Head islands during the Summer months. It also delivers groceries and guests to the cottages, for a price, of course. There are four summer accommodations (three of which are shown below) on Eagle Island which boosts of excellent views and spectacular sunsets...all with cold water only, outside showers and cute outhouses. Prices range from $1800 to $2750 a week. Unbelievable! I hope I haven’t bored you. I find all of this very fascinating! There are so many islands off our shores and many of them have stories attached.❤️
The following Eagle Island photos were found on Google.
And there you have it!
Take good care of yourselves,
Susan
💕
You may be feeling blue but you brightened my day! Love the family history you relate with the area.
ReplyDeleteI hope you can get those rascally squirrels rooted out. It has to be frustrating to deal with them.
Take care!
It's sad but true that when you feed the birds you attract other wildlife too, some which you don't necessarily want to attract, so I suspect the squirrels have found themselves a nice little home inside your house where they know there's food on offer too. I hope you manage to find out how they're getting in. I find local history fascinating and you live in such a beautiful place that it's good to know its backstory.
ReplyDeleteWhat amazing pictures!
ReplyDeleteSorry about the critters that want to be cozy with you!
We had a squirrel in our walls once!
Ugh.
I enjoy my visits here, my friend.
We feed the birds but have polls that are 12 feet high, we have four feeders on one pole and two on the other, we need to use a long stick with a hook to get the feeders down to fill now even the deer and other animals cannot get to the seeds.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful information on the bell island and the burning of the buildings how sad they burned them down.
What an honor for your grandmother to have been their cook.
I love the Kernal Sanders cartoon just way to funny, you made me smile.
Have a sweet Day
Catherine
Catherine
I wish I could visit you to help solve the squirrel mystery. I wonder if they are coming from down below up through the walls? A friend of ours has had his truck wiring eaten twice by squirrels...something about the what they are made of these days.
ReplyDeleteSarah had trouble with qround squirrels in Indy...she called someone that tried to rip her off...an outrageous price, and if she had not got under the house after they left, would have been paying for basically nothing. But they were going in underneath ad going up through the walls...she got it stopped before they destroyed anything.
I love squirrels, and all creatures like that, but even so, cannot allow them to destroy everything. She lived in a nice subdivision, and another neighbor had coons...and they did abou $5-7,000 worth of damage. How they let them go that far is beyond me.
It is just always something. I need to burn stuff, and could have today, except Roger lost a hearing aid, and I spent a big part of my day searching for it. I had determined to go over his bedroom with a fine tooth comb...found it where it had fell, or he had knocked it in a drawer...and it got covered up by clothes. I had taken stuff out of two drawers, and looked in that one, and even lifted one t-shirt out, but thought oh, it is not in here. But that is where it was.
I can only imagine that having a cat would keep the little buggers away. Even without catching them, cats can keep the squirrels honest. Even Sasha, our declawed cat, ( We didn't declaw her... someone else did and we "acquired" her when she invited herself inside one day.) was a pro at catching squirrels. She couldn't kill them, but scared the bejesus out of them so they were always looking over their shoulder and avoiding the bird feeder that was on the porch.
ReplyDeleteDon't have any idea how to get rid of the squirrels but I would take them much farther from your home next time. Maybe 5 or 10 miles.I do that when I relocate a critter. It would be a shame to quit feeding the birds since they give your Mother so much pleasure. Think before I hired anyone, I'd get references.
ReplyDeleteThe Colonel made me laugh out loud.
The view from your kitchen window is just beautiful and inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI looked up some info about red squirrels. “Studies show that a red squirrel can find its way back to a former nesting ground from as far away as 15 miles. If you choose a good relocation spot where your squirrels can be happy and thrive they are less likely to return.” Maybe this is why yours keep coming back!
It's always good to catch up with you, Susan. Your situation is challenging and I'm glad you keep us up to date. And the pictures and your telling a little about history and life where you grew up and where your mother still lives is very interesting. Your experience - now and growing up is so very different from life here where I live in the Midwest.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lot of trouble dealing with those pesky squirrels has been for you! I hope it gets taken care of soon!
Red squirrels will find a way in, you probably better call someone. Trapping them and moving them only works if you take them about 20 miles away and then they will probably find their way back! In some states it is illegal to catch and release them...I favor dispatching them as I know how destructive they can be. :)
ReplyDeleteYou live amidst so much beautiful nature, it can't be a surprise that some of it gets inside your house. But I'm guessing a professional can figure out how they're sneaking in, and put a stop to it. . . at least temporarily.
ReplyDeleteI hope you can find a way to keep those squirrels out of your home. Lovely to read about the island and it's history, you live in such a beautiful place.
ReplyDeleteAside from the trouble with your squirrels, this is an uplifting post. i find the views to be spectacular, since, of course, i don't see things like that on the prairies. The squirrels would drive me crazy, since I don't like them much.
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone in needing a bit of color, as most of us are feeling the same way I suspect. My late mother always had issues with squirrels getting into the attic even after she hired a contractor to install wiring to keep them out. Hope you find a solution that works.The views were lovely to see.
ReplyDeleteI do hope you can find a way to keep the squirrels out of your house.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed seeing your photographs, all so beautiful.
All the best Jan