There are two reasons I am not getting my chapters finished...

SPRING HAS SPRUNG! It is my favorite season as it is many peoples. Colorado in springtime is just a cul de sac from Heaven!

The robins are busily tending to their young hatchlings. The other birds are singing merrily in all of my trees. The bees are gathering pollen from the wonderfully flowered out fruit trees and lilacs. The sun is shining and warming the earth. The dandelions are popping up in assorted polka dots across my otherwise beautifully greening lawn. The mountains to the west, just outside my office window are snow-capped and beautiful and the air is perfumed with the essence of new life!

Ahhh... it is perfect... almost, with the exception of my new adult onset allergies... mating, noisy, destructive woodpeckers who have an affinity for the wood around my chimneys, Mama raccoon foraging in my yard (I compost) for goodies, and the doggone squirrels who seem to love to ravage my vegetable garden, steal the bird seed in the feeders, make weird screeching sounds in the trees just outside my bedroom, run and play noisily on the warm roof tiles and DRIVE MY DOG ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!!!

My dog, Tootsie aka Batman, is going nuts again! Some of you who have followed my blog in the past have read about my squirrel situation. I have many, many peach, apple, ash, fir, pine, crabapple, aspen and other assorted trees in my yard which is a lovely playground for pesky varmints like these two. In the past I have had a pretty good relocation plan for them, moving them to nicer habitats where they can run free and not worry about my dog constantly running from door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window, well you get the idea. Tootsie aka Batman is already high strung because of her Italian Greyhound background. My Italian friends talk with their hands, Tootsie talks with her entire being. Squirrels are her nemesis. Just the mention of the word SQUIRREL (dog gone it, just typing it made her spring off the couch in my office and run from door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window door to window to door to window to door to window to door to window, well you get the idea. It's funny, even the word girl or any other word that rhymes somewhat with squirrel, there she goes again, will make her spring to attention, stick both ears straight in the air and ruffle her spine "fur". After talking to others who have relocated the squirrels like me, I have found now that it is true. If you move them, others will come to take his or her place. SO, what are Tootsie and I going to do to make peace here? SUGGESTIONS?

Other than her manic behavior about those furry, brown creatures in the yard, Tootsie is a good girl, NO! NO! BATMAN, I SAID GIRL!