Mimosa...

No, I'm not talking about a cocktail. The tree! We have a small forest of mimosa trees at our place. They are everywhere. In the fall the trees produce many seeds pods, which winter over and then germinate and the trees spring up everywhere. Their lacy leaves they make a wonderful shady canopy. And the blossoms! They attract hummingbirds and butterflies, and they have sweet delicate scent that wafts over the yard when the breeze blows. The mimosas that grow in the front of our place have drawn us into “warfare” with the state and, most recently, the gas company who sent a man down the right of way in a “putt-putt” vehicle spraying herbicide. Two years ago the state sent crew to chop down all the mimosas on its right of way that had sprung up. And two weeks ago the gas company man zapped yet more some of the mimosas that we were pleased to see spring up to help block our place from the highway. Nothing we can do about it, of course, we are doomed to loose.

Shuddup! Shuddup! Shuddup!

And why would two reasonably sane (?) adults leap up and race through house and out one of the two back doors (yes, we have two back doors and no front door, it's a long story) screaming SHUT UP! Well, you might too if you had at chipmunks on both sides of the house “chipping” off and on all day long. And what do I mean by "chipping?" Aha. I'm glad you asked. From a Web site about chipmunks (http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=86): "chipmunks frequently call with a high-pitched chip or “chuck” repeated over and over (and over and over and over, emphasis added), at intervals of one or two seconds. This scolding noise is often made by a chipmunk watching an intruder from a safe vantage point. Some scientists think that it may also be the mating call of the female chipmunk." Mating call of the female chipmunk? Oh brother. If this is true, if this noise we are being subjected to sporadically all day long is being made by female chipmunks, well, we may be overrun with chipmunks. Chipmunks are adorable, so we haven’t even considered trying to eliminate them. They might send us to the looney bin though.