Diary

 As usual, I've been working on my small projects very gradually. The wood-chewing squirrel problem is mostly solved. My theory had been that the previous owner of the house had put salt on the front steps during the winter. It is easy to identify this, because most builders use cheap screws that rust when exposed to salt. So, where you see rusted screws there has been salt. I can't tell you how many rusted screws I've replaced with stainless steel screws since moving to Vermont (hint: stainless steel screws are more expensive). The top step is partially covered by a roof, so the residual salt didn't wash away, allowing it to gradually soak into the wood. To test this theory, I bought a large pink block of Tibetan salt and left it nearby to see if it would attract the squirrels. It did to some extent, but the squirrels continued to gnaw on the top step, especially after it rained. There was the possibility that other salts were already in the wood, but that could be ruled out by the fact that none of the other steps had been chewed on. After I installed a new top step, the chewing stopped entirely, though there was a little new chewing on the nearby porch floor in the salted area. Since the squirrels weren't that attracted to the salt block, I put it in the woods and checked on it occasionally. Something had been licking it, and within a few weeks it was mostly gone. To see what it was, I set up my game camera nearby, and the culprits were...squirrels! There were also deer and chipmunks in the images, but they weren't licking the salt.

Squirrels do other kinds of damage here. In 2024, I think they attacked an eastern phoebe nest over the back porch. They are also attracted to egg shells for calcium. When I moved into the house, there were several abandoned bird nests on it at various locations. I think that the birds don't return to them because they're unsafe. I now have put two new ledges over the front porch that are more out-of-the-way, and the squirrels don't notice them. The eastern phoebes had one clutch last year. This year, the first clutch left the nest on June 2. There is now a second clutch at the same location, and the eggs haven't hatched yet. The squirrels can also be annoying during mating season. They chase each other and run all over the outside of the house making loud noises. I think they're finished now.

I have also been working on keeping mice and chipmunks out of the engine compartment of my car. They chewed up a lot of foam insulation and stored acorns inside the hood. I've replaced the insulation and blocked off the holes that the mice were using to store acorns. I also placed a peppermint ball under the hood where the chipmunks like to sit and munch.

My other animal friends aren't as obnoxious. The woodpeckers and barred owls can be loud at times. This year I've seen three catbirds. I still have a few bats, but they haven't been using the new bat house. Because the bats like heat, and I had put it up in a shady location, I decided to move it to a sunnier spot. When I climbed up to take it down, there was a bat sleeping on top of it, which flew away. It is now located in a sunnier spot, also facing east. The large crack on that side of the house is still popular with bats. You can identify where bats have been by their black droppings. Their urine leaves a white streak if it runs down the side of the house.

The previous owner had a motion detector set up to protect one of her flower beds from deer. I've started using it but installed red lights, because white lights disrupt bats. There was recently a deer attack on the hostas farthest from the motion detector. 

Although I was a little concerned about the cool weather and cloudiness of the spring, my tomatoes have been doing exceptionally well. It looks as if I will have another high yield this year. The stargazing opportunities have been limited. There seem to be fewer nights during which the Milky Way is extremely clear than in the past. This may have to do with climate change.

I am still quite happy with this location with respect to climate change. Many people living near oceans may be in for rude awakenings. My son, who lives in Seattle, has become tired of it. There isn't much climate risk there, but there is a significant earthquake risk. He has been thinking of moving to Boston. Looking into it a little, I suggested Portland, Maine, which, though also on the Atlantic, poses less climate risk.

The Brontës, I think, is one of the best biographies I've read, and I will continue plugging away at it slowly. One of the unusual aspects of it is that it covers the entire family in Haworth in some detail, because several of them became famous. In order to do this properly, you have to look closely at the psychodynamics of several people rather than just one and analyze their relationships closely. In most biographies there is only one important person, and everyone else becomes peripheral.