Hey kids. I survived Christmas. Did you? It's all downhill grubbing from here.
My aunt and uncle are staying at this wahoo little cabin on the shoreline, not far from here. Christmas Eve they suggested we all go on this carriage ride thing, through the cabin company. So halfway through this carriage ride packed with cabin dwellers and a few couples staying at Tigh Na Mara in their ritzy family jewels the horses start trotting a little too quickly for comfort. Suddenly the wagon is banging along full tilt and the larger of the horses is sticking out sideways from the hitching or whatever. Suddenly we have gone over the curb into the shallow ditch full of big rocks and the half the ladies (including my mother) are sitting on the floor sucking air through their teeth. The women driving the wagon said they steered the horses toward something that they couldn't run through (in this case a big black hedge) so that they would be forced to stop. All this in about 4 minutes.And somebody's grandmother gets off immediately and starts hiking back to her resort, swearing and shaking all over. Good appetite after that.
Here's a pair of pilleated woodpeckers. They take turns
