It's Monday Already?

Where did last week go and how did I let it get away from me? My only excuse is I have been busy.

I drove to Denver on Thursday to spend time with my sister and niece before they went off to Virginia for Christmas and to finish my Christmas shopping. I also drove up to Boulder to have lunch with Tania, one of the women who walked the Camino with me. It was good to see her. We both can not believe it has been three years since we did the walk. Sometimes it seems like yesterday. She told me she will be heading home to Mexico for the holidays. I swear during my stay I drove as many miles (just driving around metro Denver) as I did on the drive from home to Denver.

One thing I missed by being in Denver was the male Downy Woodpecker who tried to set up housekeeping in the rafters of our garage. My husband said he spent most of Thursday afternoon trying to get him out of there. He tried throwing a pie tin at him but that didn't work. He tried throwing a Frisbee at him but that didn't work. He tried climbing on a ladder and waving a janitor type push broom at him but that didn't work either. Then he remembered he had a handout about getting rid of woodpeckers and pulled that out to read. One of the ideas listed sounded plausible to him so he went and purchased a large silver helium filled balloon with a long ribbon attached to it. He brought it home, used a Magic Marker to draw two big eyes on it,let it float up into the rafters and then bounced it around by the ribbon while crooning, "Whooo,whooo,whoooo." The bird is supposed to think the balloon is a owl and get frightened enough to leave. My husband must be good at owl noises because he said the bird quickly left. I was laughing as he told me this and I wish I had been there to see it.