Good Karma

We have a squatter at our place. We saw him hanging around a bit in the summer, then a bit more in the fall, but once the cold weather was here to stay so was he.

It really isn’t that bad; he’s kinda cute, actually.

In the summer I would hear some chirping going on in the backyard. I never thought anything of it as we often have a family or two of cardinals using our peaceful child-free yard. I love seeing them in the trees; their brilliant red. Even the duller females are stunning. I thought the chirping was from our friendly cardinals. Then one day later in the summer, I heard it while out in the backyard enjoying a glass of wine and a magazine.

It wasn’t my cardinal in the tree above me and he wasn’t happy I was starring.

Seriously, he started hopping around from branch to branch and his tone had changed. He was not happy with me at all. I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed he wasn’t one of the cardinals or in awe that a woodpecker chose one of my trees in the city.

The Honey and I didn’t know what too do. It was a little late to dissuade the little guy. It seemed that he had spent most of the summer working on his hole and it was probably too late for him to find somewhere new. We decided to let him be as his new home was in a dead part of the tree. It was a short stump so there wasn’t any danger of the branch falling in a strong wind.

We’ve been living in harmony and I love seeing him poke his head out of his hole in the morning, usually after we’ve woken him taking out the compost or recycling. 

Ironically, this guy is not an early bird. Sometimes in the evening he’ll keep an eye on us, poking his head out as we survey our backyard looking at our snow/water/monstrous icicle situation.

He’s happy so we’re happy. Good Karma all around.