refuge.....

It all started out very innocently. On the days Papa goes to work at his normal time, Matt and I go on the porch and wave and tell him goodbye. Papa flashes his lights, toots the horn and Matthew giggles and waves. On Friday, Matt brought a piece of toast out with him. By the time Papa left, Matt had finished the toast and had only pieces of crust left. He set them on the porch railing while he waved. Almost immediately, a blue jay came a took a piece of toast and then another one came and took a piece. Then a squirrel came and took the last 2 pieces of crust. By this time, Matt was so excited he wanted to go inside and get more food for the birds and squirrels. Once inside he decided he should give the squirrels some nuts from a can Papa had but was not eating because it had no salt on it. We took the can outside and Matt lined nuts up along the railing. Two squirrels came and began to carry away the nuts. We went inside and watched from the front window. Matt was giggling and clapping and despite all the noise, the squirrels were not deterred from their gathering.
After lunch we were sitting on the porch with the can of nuts and a squirrel came right up to me. Matt instructed me to give him a nut and the squirrel took it right out of my hand. We eventually went inside but the squirrel came back and wanted more nuts. So he sat on the back of the chair and tapped on the window. Well, let me tell you, Matt was ecstatic. Yes, we took more nuts out to him and this little ritual continued throughout the afternoon.
When we went to the grocery store on Sat, Wm. bought some shelled peanuts so Matt could put them out for the squirrels. While it is fun to watch Matt with the squirrels, I am afraid to let them eat from his hand. We have compromised by setting the nuts on the railing once they tap on the window to let us know they want more. The problem now looks like they are always there. Once they take the nuts away, they are back for more. This could end up being quite expensive not to mention our contributing to over feeding two squirrels and two blue jays. :-)
It was good to be back in church yesterday.....seemed like forever since I had been there. Actually, it was only 2 Sundays.
We have decided to go to Raleigh to see Morrigan and Max on 11/10. Our original plan was to go down at Thanksgiving but the timing was not a good fit for Wm.'s new job. So our hope is to get to Canton before Alyssa's birthday so Wm. can see the girls. I will come for Alyssa's party with Tom, Susan and Matt because Wm. is working that Saturday. That is becoming more the norm than a once in a while thing. When he worked in Inkjet, he rarely worked overtime not to mention I could count on one hand the Saturdays he worked in the previous 2 yr. Now, he seems to be going in earlier, working later and Saturdays. He is much happier with this job and that is what is important to me.