Things That Go “Tink, Tink, Tink” in the Night

Mom e-mailed me this morning to say that something had been tapping against the side of her house last night.  Of course it was on the outside of her bedroom wall: that makes it kind of hard to sleep.

It was windy last night.  Still is.  I pruned the pear trees yesterday (I found no partridges) to get the branches away from her house and help the trees grow safely.  These trees bear heavily and the branches break under the load if I let them get too long and spindly.  Those should not be the problem, but her Satellite TV and power wires are on that corner of the house.

Using the Guys Guidebook to Home Repairs adage of “If it moves and shouldn’t: use duct tape, if it should move and doesn’t: use WD40” I grabbed a roll of duct tape from the closet and went out the front door to head down the hill to Mom’s house.

The weather was unpleasant, but would only get worse as rain moved in, so I might as well do what I can before everything gets all wet.  Duct tape doesn’t stick well to wet surfaces.

Blondie was very upset and she stood inside the storm door barking her “alert” bark: which meant “Don’t go out there Doug!  It’s windy!  And it’s starting to rain!  And it’s WINDY!”

Power meter seal tag immobilized

It didn’t take long to find the culprit and immobilize it so it will no longer go “tink, tink, tink” against the meter box.

Just in time too: the threat of rain was becoming a reality.

Blondie
Blondie Bear, my writing assistant

When I got back up the hill Blondie Bear​ was still standing inside the storm door looking worried, she had kept a close eye on me.  She gave me a good sniffing to be sure I was OK and followed me back to the table where I’m working.  She gave me one, “Don’t you do that again!” look and laid down with a huff.

Poor thing: she tries so hard to look after me!

Setting Up the Garden for Spring
Dodging a Bullet