FRS

Hey, Where Ya Been?

I’ve been here, just one part busy, one part watching TV and one part not feeling like writing anything.

Turns out I wasn’t the savior the Red Sox needed. I watched half a game on ESPN then listened to the other half a game and they lost. I listened to a game and they won. I didn’t listen to two games and they won one and lost the other. Since the last time I posted they have played .500 ball, which if that trend continues probably won’t get them in the playoffs, but it may keep them from finishing last.

I have been re-watching some of my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe flicks. Not because I’m anxiously awaiting the next Avengers movie, but more because everyone is talking about them. There are a ton of lists online how to watch all of them in order to prepare yourself to watch Avengers: Endgame. There are 21 movies released so far and I was surprised to realize that I had copies of more than half of them. Growing up I was a fan of both the Iron Man and Captain America comic books, so I have the movies with those guys in the titles. I was a casual Thor reader too, so I have those three flicks. The first Ant Man movies struck the right cord with me, so I got the second one too. Never knew of the Guardians of the Galaxy but the first movie was fun, so I picked up the second one as well. I haven’t re-watched it yet and I may not because if I recall correctly I didn’t like it as much as the first. But then again, I am a sucker for origin stories and so far I have liked the first movie of the hero’s series more than any of the followups.

Not just watching movies either. I went back and re-binge watched Season 1 of Killing Eve because Season 2 started last Sunday night and I wanted to remember what went on. I also re-binge watched Season 1 of Fleabag because Season 2 is coming to America soon.

Add on top of that, Donna and I spent nearly 32 hours over 4 days this past weekend sitting on the screened porch watching golf on TV. Neither one of us golfs and we don’t watch it any other time of the year, but, because we have actually trod the hallowed grounds of Augusta National, every year for the first week of April we become fans and watch The Masters. Thank heaven for masters.com where you can watch practically the whole tournament commercial free. You just need to select “featured groups” and they follow 2 groups over the whole 18 holes and when they finish you get 2 more groupings.

We also managed to sneak in a couple of short Moss Motoring Challenge trips locally. We snagged 5 on Saturday morning and 3 yesterday afternoon.

I Found The Problem With The Red Sox

A week ago I was worried that they were going to repeat the first-to-worst trip they took in 2014. That feeling continued. By Saturday they had gone from 1-3 to 2-8!

They have been playing on the west coast, so I haven’t really had an opportunity to listen to a game. Finally, today, they had an afternoon game in Arizona that we listened to while on the porch. They won the game!

Ergo, because I listened, they won. So, now, all I have to do is listen to every game for the rest of the season and they will finish with 154 wins and only 8 losses.

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like 2014 All Over Again

In 2013 the Red Sox finished first in their division and went on to win the World Series. In 2014 they finished dead last in their division 20 games under .500.

In 2018 the Red Sox finished first in their division and went on to win the World Series. So far in 2019 they are 1 win and 3 loses and have not looked good doing it.

Truck Day

Pitchers and catchers report in just 9 days…

So, I’m Getting A New Hat

But I’m not sure I deserve it, I only watched 2 games all the way through.

I went to bed in the seventh inning of game one, with the Sox up by two runs, but just sure they were going to lose (they didn’t.) For Game 2, I did watch the whole thing (they won.) For game 3, I bailed at the bottom of the tenth with the scored tied 1-1 and went to bed sure they were going to lose. I woke up 3 hours later to use the bathroom and went in to the computer to see what the score was. It was 2-2 in the 18th inning. It was still going on! By the time I got  the TV on I watched a Dodger dump Gatorade on another Dodger (they lost.) Next day for game four, I turned off the TV after the Dodgers scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning just sure they were going to lose (they didn’t.) Game 5, I watched the whole thing and they won. They won the whole thing.

So, I’m getting a new hat. Good thing too, because my 2013 hat is starting to look a little tired. After 2004, when the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time in 86 years I broke down and bought a souvenir hat. Three years later I replaced it, when they won the Series again. I bought a replacement for that 2007 cap six years later. And now after 5 more years it is time for another new World Series Winner Hat.

Not So Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder

We have a couple of the Super Stop-A-Squirrel Bird Feeders, one in the front yard and one in the back. You mount the top part to the tree and the bottom part rests on a couple of hooks making it easy to pull down and refill. They work pretty neat with a spring loaded perch that stays put when a bird lands on it, but when a heavier squirrel overcomes the spring, it closes the lid over the seed.

These have served us well for several years. You can see where the squirrels, foiled by the spring action, have tried other ways to gain access to the tantalizing seed within. There are a few spots where the paint has been scratched off from trying to dig their way in and a couple places in the back where the metal itself has been slightly pried apart, but not enough to get inside.

Last year one of our local squirrels figured out that if he keeps his back feet on the tree, braces himself with one front leg on the side of the feeder, pushes up on the bottom with the other front leg and letting go suddenly he can actually get the seed container to fall off one of the hooks holding it up and it will dump a bunch of seeds on the ground. With repeated jostling he/she can nearly empty the entire feeder out. I know this because this particular squirrel had the audacity to preform this maneuver while Donna and I were sitting on the porch watching it.

I came up with a solution that prevent this trick from working. I drilled two holes on the side that went through both the lid and the seed basket. I then added a couple of deck screws through the holes and now the bottom bottom part stays firmly in place (circled in the above picture.) The only down side to this is I now have to remember to take a cordless screwdriver out with me when I refill the seeds. I know it works because we have seen this squirrel try to perform the maneuver, climb down to the ground and get a little sad face on when it realizes there isn’t a bunch of seeds waiting for it.

We filled all out bird feeders before we left to go out west and when we got back the mixed seed in the hanging feeders was down 1/4, but the front squirrel proof feeders was down 3/4 and the backyard one was completely empty. So when we went shopping we bought a new bag and filled them both up. Within a couple days the front one had barely dropped, but the back one was way down. I knew the squirrels weren’t doing it, so maybe we just had a lot more birds using the backyard feeder.

Turns out it wasn’t birds at all. A couple of nights ago we were out on the porch late, listening to the FRS game on the radio, when there was a lull in the game sound Donna could hear something out in the dark backyard scratching around. Now we have plenty of birds around and more than enough squirrels. We’ve have seen a small bunny rabbit or two back there as well and just the other day a small box turtle wandered through. But this was different. I went inside and grabbed a flashlight and when I pointed it at the bird feeder, sitting right on top, was a Garfield sized raccoon. He was calmly reaching down and grabbing handfuls of seeds and munching away. Dona clapped her hands real loud twice and it stepped onto the tree, climbed down and scurried off into the darkness.

Well, I thought the deck screws worked on squirrels, maybe if I reversed them they would work on raccoons too. So, look again at the picture above and notice the top of the feeder. Tonight I drilled 9 holes through the top and threaded in deck screws, pointy side up, through the top in hopes to keep the raccoon from making him or herself at home at the sunflower seed buffet.

I filled the feeder with half the seed from the front, so we’ll see how long it takes to disappear. Donna thinks that it either won’t slow the raccoon down or it will, but somehow it will aid the squirrels in eating the seeds. We’ll see.