Blog posts by Peter DeHaan, many of which are in his book Woodpecker Wars.
Last week I received a strange notice from my US mail carrier. It seems that the location of my mailbox is unacceptable. What’s perplexing is it’s been like that for twenty years, so I’m not sure why it’s suddenly now out of specification. There are two complaints with my once acceptable mailbox: it needs to […]
Where do toads come from? I pondered that question during Ike’s massive deluge as I peered out my basement egress window into the window well. (The water was draining away nicely—thank you.) Sitting there as happy as could be were two toads. Being different size and color, I assume that they were not related, yet they both […]
Several readers have asked for photos of our daughter’s wedding. Here is one of the bride and groom, flanked by my wife and I, along with Dan and his betrothed.
Earlier this week, I received an interesting press release. It was about search online to donate money to charity. Though it’s not my habit to post press releases, this one seems worthwhile: Supporters Turn To Innovative Ways To Help Their Favorite Nonprofits This Holiday Season Charities across the nation are bracing themselves for declining contributions this […]
I really like the TV show Monk. The season premier was last Friday. Since we were a tad busy with Laura and Chris’s wedding, we’ve not yet had the opportunity to watch it, but I’m most anxious to do so. The show features Adrian Monk, a former homicide detective, who has some issues: he struggles with a […]
Last week’s entry about the TV shows I watch reminds me of a trio of shows I watched in the past—all covering the same theme: “flipping” houses. House flipping—which has no connection to cow tipping—is the art of buying distressed real estate, making quick improvements, and (hopefully) selling it for a profit. The three shows […]
First it was falling leaves from my Maple trees and then falling stems. Now it’s falling branches. Fortunately, the dropped branches are few in number and small in diameter. In examining the breaks, they are suspicious looking. Certainly, there was a weakness at the point of separation that caused them to break. Each fallen branch has […]
A few weeks ago, I shared about leaves falling from my Maple trees (see Raking Leaves). In the spring an insect lays eggs in the stems of Maple leaves. When the eggs hatch, the stems become weak at that juncture and the leaves fall off. That was June 6. At this time, the leaves have stopped […]
Where I live, flooding is a rare thing. When it does occur, it is generally on a small scale, doing minimal damage. Aside from watching flooding video on TV, I have little real comprehension of the wide-scale power of a major flood and the damage a raging river can cause. Last week, on my visit to […]
Last week, my daughter and I embarked on an animal rescue of prime importance. I’m not talking about the kind of liberation you might see on TV, like a beached whale, escaped circus animal, bear on an iceberg, or large game stuck in an inexplicable situation. This rescue was the backyard type; the predicament was […]