Brainless

I was up very early on Saturday morning. It was a very late night for the family so everyone else was still in bed and I expected they would stay there for several more hours. I made myself a big cup of coffee and nestled up in my favorite spot on the sofa with my Morning and Evening devotional as well as my Spurgeon book, The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life. Everything was perfectly quiet. It was still dark outside, but all the critters knew daylight was on its way. The birds were starting to sing and there's that wonderful spring smell in the air. I absolutely love quiet mornings like this one. Even Jesse puppy finds her happy spot on the rug in the kitchen and waits patiently for me to do what I do in the early morning hours.

All of a sudden, in the middle of my perfectly quiet morning, I hear a rattling noise. At first I thought it was a big truck going down the road, but it kept getting louder. Then it stopped. Then it started again. Can I just say this noise was a very loud and unusual noise! Not only was it interrupting my nice quiet morning, I was afraid it was going to wake-up the rest of the house (i.e., there goes my nice quiet morning).

Then I realize what it is. It's a woodpecker. We have lots and lots of woodpeckers around, so this is nothing new. We have a beautiful pileated woodpecker in our woods along with downy woodpeckers, red-headed and red-bellied woodpeckers and lovely northern flickers. I'm convinced, however, that this early riser either couldn't see straight or had knocked the sense out of his tiny little bird brain. He wasn't pecking at a tree. No. He was pecking on the galvanized steel chimney. This did not deter the little woodpecker though. He kept at it and kept at it and kept at it. I would have thought at some point he would have realized, "Hey, this isn't a tree...doesn't sound right, doesn't smell right, doesn't look right!" Nope. This woodpecker had obviously pecked one too many trees. I think his brain must have rattled inside his itty bitty skull just a little too much. I don't know, maybe an hour later, he finally gave up.

Do you know, that woodpecker was back at it again this morning. Great...just great. Last year it was the flying squirrels (although I keep thinking I'm hearing something up there again). This year, we're hosting a brainless woodpecker. Since the flying squirrels' home is right next to the chimney and sleep during the day, maybe these two varmints will get into it with each other and both will decide it's not worth the hassle...and leave. Let's hope so!