I have to tell you about our horrible heating situation for TWO MONTHS of very cold Tehachapi weather! Ground squirrels got into our attic and chewed the wire cluster that controlled heat, air conditioner and fans, causing them to touch and short out. ALL THREE ran almost ALL THE TIME AND AT THE SAME TIME for those two months! No wonder we were cold. And our gas and electric bills went through the roof. Finally our trusty furnace man returned from his huge job in Bakersfield and fixed everything near the end of January, but we had a nippy and expensive two months!

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Yipping coyotes are bothering our new neighbors this winter. We hear coyotes yipping too on summer nights when our windows are open, but not now. Early one summer morning, many years ago, we were keeping our son Tom's little dog Charlie for a month. A coyote came down toward our patio from above and enticed Charlie to run away from George who was soaking in our outdoor hot tub. George yelled, "Charlie, STAY!" but he wouldn't, and trotted up the hill toward the coyote. (George thought a whole pack of them were probably hiding behind big rocks up there waiting for their buddy to bring them breakfast. And that's just what seemed to be happening!) Well, George shot out of the hot tub, bare as a jaybird, and ran up and grabbed the dog just in time. Then he had to wake me up to tell me all about it.

Another morning about 5 a.m., when I was fast asleep, George came running into the bedroom yelling, "Murtz, you need to come! There's an owl in our dining room!" And there was! He had come in through the chimney into our living room, decorating it liberally with ashes. He flew into the dining room window box and then just sat there. When we walked in to look at him, he flew into our pantry and landed on a Tanqueray gin bottle, then flitted over to a Wheat Thins box. We turned off all the lights, opened the garage door and the kitchen door, blocked the kitchen with a sheet, and shooed the owl out with a broom. We decided that he was just stopping by for a snack.

I could go on and on, with squirrels that lived in our living room window box cushions, and bats that still live over our front door, etc., but it's time to get to work in my office.