One of my chores during this annual time off is to keep the birdfeeder that sits atop a fence post outside the kitchen window filled, so last week I made a trip to get a new 32-gallon trash can to store the seed in, the old can having been appropriated for other uses. I also ran out to buy a hundred pounds of various kinds of seed, about enough to keep the birds fed through mid-February. That quantity would stretch longer if it were there to feed the birds alone, but as soon as I put the sunflower seeds out, the squirrels that reside in Jan's thorny locust abandoned the corn we set out for them and raided the birdfeeder instead. Preventive measures are useless -- the squirrels are more resourceful than I. This week has been warm, so seed consumption is down, but I anticipate having to buy more seed by early February or possibly even the end of January if the temperature falls as it is predicted to and if the squirrels decide they're going to chub up on the sunflower seeds.

We've been visited so far by the usual sparrows and chickadees, an occasional cardinal, a tufted titmouse or two, bluejays, and several common flickers. A sole nuthatch has appeared, snatching a seed and flying off into the redbud to eat. Numerous juncos, the little slate-gray birds that feed on the ground, show up in the late afternoon to clean up after the sloppier birds that feed above them.

For me, washing dishes is a zen activity -- unthreatening, unhurried, deliberate, and calming. I'm not volunteering to take on more dishwashing, mind you, but the feeder outside the kitchen window adds to the pleasure and calm of this activity, except at those moments when I become involved in some drama at the feeder and take sides against a bullying squirrel or bluejay and dispatch them with either a rap on the window or a shot across the bow with a nerf weapon.

But that's fun too, if not zen.

Movies we've watched in the past week:

Braveheart
Pocahontas
Big (I'm a sucker for the Hanks/Loggia scene in FAO Schwarz)
Numerous Adam Sandler movies -- titles don't really distinguish anything there, do they?
You've Got Mail!
Austin Powers: The Spy...
Pleasantville
Tin Cup
Air Force One
The Fifth Element

Others probably, but I've forgotten.