I live in an OLD house with barely a front porch. So delivery instructions are to always leave on back porch. I’ve been trying to set the back porch up with curtains to keep mosquitoes and rain out for a nice place to sit. I only open the curtain when I’m expecting someone.
I keep a wicker tray full of drinks and goodies next to the couch where they’ll see it, with a sign that says, “Thanks for the delivery. Have some”. This way they know they can take more than one.
[Mod Note]:Re-encoded video for proper embedded viewing in web browsers.
What was going wrong with the video? I uploaded it via the cell phone with the link provided (I normally use the computer, but these vids hadn’t been taken off my phone yet). Is there something I should’ve done to embed them? Thanks.
Thanks. I have a bunch of videos of them grabbing snacks. Even had one guy holler a thank you once. My daughter started putting snacks on the front porch and this morning my son-in-law told her they were all gone. She looked back on the cam and saw that the pizza guy took them. She figured he probably needed it, or maybe wanted to take some home to family. I don’t mind either with they grab a handful of stuff. I get it in bulk from the local discount store and costs maybe 15c per item.
Bugs/wasps…Yeah, I saw that. They get into the porch when the curtains are open. Mostly mud daubers, though a few regular wasps that I can smack with a flyswatter.
Seeing those tiny eggs reminds me of when I was a kid visiting my grandparents chicken farm. They had a couple thousand laying hens and had to manually collect the eggs twice a day. There were always a few tiny eggs that Grandma would save for me and my brother.
She would let me make scrambled eggs the next morning to go with my pancakes and bacon. Thanks for the memories.
Aww. Yeah, my daughter is supposed to ask my granddaughter if she wants to eat them. We started off with a dozen. Several died and we ended up with 11. Got 6 more and now have 17. I built the new ones a little coop. My 94 yr old mother out in Calif likes watching them, specially when it’s time to go in for the night. She’ll get on the cams and talk to them haha.
How very gracious of you Ann. Why not go crazy and add a mini fridge or ice chest to offer cool drinks. I bet they would be better appreciated? Any Granola or energy bars in the mix? Some of these guys are probably in great shape and snack conscious!
Thanks. Oh yes, there are mostly healthy snacks in the tray. Too hot for chocolate treats right now. Funny, I sent my daughter a picture of a good bag I got her today and then said that I ought to set a mini fridge out there to hold cold drinks haha. I don’t have a mini fridge, but I do have a tiny one you use in the car that’ll hold a 6 pack of cans. It plugs into the cig lighter, so I could plug it into one of my little solar generators on the days I’m expecting pkgs.
You’re such a kind lady. I love this so much. Kind of wish you were my neighbor. I’ll settle with you being my forum neighbor though.
Much respect Ann.
My username is symbolic to me of many things and a continuous reminder to me. I'll collapse the details in this disclosure tag for anyone who cares to know.
My username reminds me of something I learned from Viktor Frankl. He taught me that I ALWAYS have a choice. Between any stimulus and response, there is ALWAYS choice. This reminds me of that. In the past, I have used negative self-talk with thoughts like “I had no choice”, or “I have to”, or “I can’t”. These thoughts and phrases are not really accurate (at least not without qualifiers) and have hurt me in the past to be used as excuses to myself instead of taking responsibility. It doesn’t matter what someone else does; it doesn’t matter what happens to me; it doesn’t matter what the situation is…I always have a choice in what I will do, or how I will respond, even if that choice isn’t the most ideal nor absolutely preferred (again, when understood in the context of Frankl’s life and book if you’ve ever read it, this makes a lot more sense as this is one of his major points), it is still a choice among others and what I decided. This perspective changed my life to one of immense empowerment instead of victimstancing (as I’d previously struggled with many years ago).
“carver” has multiple meanings. Besides being my actual last name, It is one who carves. Carve can mean to form, to decorate, design, make, create for oneself. So a carver can be one who creates, forms, designs, and makes things. In this case, a reminder that I “carve” my own choices. I design, make and form my choices. while the final decision and act is the end of such a choice, part of it starts long before then…with the situations I put myself in, the habits I adopt, those people I associate with, my mindset, etc. Many things influence my choices, and thus I am ALWAYS designing, or “carving” my choices, both current and future choices.
In the past I have also struggled with insecurities such as inadequacy, depression, lack of self-esteem, self-worth, etc. “choice” can refer to something that is valued or of very good quality (often used related to good quality food, but is used for anything of good quality or value). It can remind me that I have worth and am valued. Also, that I can DO something about it. This has not been an issue for me for a long time, but it is a good reminder.
Combining multiple versions of the definitions and symbolic nature of the words (such as those I described above) have different meanings and are symbolic or act as a reminder to me or things that are helpful to me. I design/make my choices, I take ownership of my thoughts/choices, there is no “have to” nor “no-choice”, I remind myself of my self-worth to never go back to the dark days of my depression more than a decade ago., etc.
Basically, just a lot of symbolic wordplay on the word “carver” and “choice” in different variations as constant reminders and uplifting meaning to myself = since it’s my screenname I’m now always reminded about why I chose it and how I choose to live nowadays…empowered and positive.
