I told you they could not be trusted!

The New York Times kindly alerts readers to the tactical deceptions employed by grey squirrels. WARNING: contains distressing admission from a human who states that he is "flattered" by the term "squirrelly." We need to keep an eye on this one. PhD or not, I think he may be a traitor to the cause.

Lest some of you continue to think that I am overstating the threat, let me just note that over in California, the squirrels are viciously SPREADING bubonic plague (the Los Angeles Times has a considerably less interesting take on this here, proving that the Los Angeles Times really needs to do a bit of work on their sensationalist techniques if they want to remain proud members of the American media). And if that weren't enough, black SUPER SQUIRRELS (their term, not mine!) are appearing all over England, spreading their war.

Dulcimer

So as I was typing away on an email, the doorbell rang, in a particularly demanding sort of way. I hadn't been expecting this in particular, but I headed over to see the UPS guy – several days early, with a long box, for me.

I'm almost afraid to tell you what was in it: a mountain dulcimer.

This should go well.

The cats look terrified.

Nope, I've never played one, or even handled one, before. But I did make the terrible mistake of putting all of my instruments – recorders, keyboard, pennywhistle – into storage, under the mistaken assumption that since I was no longer playing them that frequently, I could live without them, without the ability to play music. I forgot that just knowing they were there provided a certain reassurance. So, reassured. At least about the presence of the musical instrument. About my ability to actually play it, not so much.

But it has a lovely sound when strummed.