Notorious Squirrel On The Block

Spring seems to be knocking at the door. Even 2 out of my 4 dying pet pots seem to have made it through the winter. I feel sad for the other 2 who couldn’t make it through the winter and still keep hoping that somehow they will bounce back to life. I still am feeding them with plant food and water. What really annoys me is the mischievous squirrel who is digging all my pots. Earlier last week I returned from work, to find mud all over my doorstep. I scrutinized the area and found weird step marks leading to a broken branch, which seemed to have acted like a stairway to the huge tree. I looked up the tree, nahh nothing there. Two days ago I reached home to find the same crime scene. But this time around I could catch the glimpse of a bushy tail on the branch and the notorious squirrel nibbling on something. I keenly looked at her and she was peering back at me. This same squirrel can be noted in our backyard and can be heard pounding on our chimney. You can ask me how do I know it’s the same squirrel? I have noted 3 distinct marks on her forehead, and each time I look at her annoyed she bows her head to show me those marks reconfirming my belief. I have thought about trapping her, scarring her even poisoning her. No I am not against cute animals. But this one has got on my nerves due to her continuous mischief’s. Digging around the backyard, digging pots, spreading mud all around our doorstep brrrr. On another note, I was thinking of ways and methods of controlling temper. You would ask, why am I thinking on these lines. Naturally like any other normal human there are days and times when I lose it. I often find myself evaluating the means and methods of bringing the red color of my ears (due to anger) back to normal. So here are some proven remedies:

I would give 10 points to knitting: Be I in a happy, annoyed, sad or jubilant mood, knitting seems to be an activity which demands 100% of my attention. I started knitting a sweater a few months back. Once I moved here, though I brought the half woven sweater with me, I completely forgot that it existed and that I still have to finish it. Now with some guidance, I have restarted the sweater making. Believe me, its one of the good old tricks to manage temper. The more complicated the design, the more focus it needs resulting in making you forget everything else. Well this is the first sweater I am knitting and so far its coming along well :)

I avoid cooking or cleaning or reading during bad mood phases. Cooking itself is quite challenging skill which I feel I have only partially acquired and am still learning. Hence cooking in an annoyed mood for me results in spoiling the dish, which in effect builds up the rotten mood. Cleaning makes me feel quite depressed. Washing dishes on the other hand is a pretty good stress buster. So a 9 points to dish washing, only if you don’t use a dishwasher. Reading makes me feel depressed, I try to associate everything bad that’s happening in the book with me. Silly isn’t it?

Taking a warm water bath definitely deserves if not 9 at least 8 points. Though I would ponder on the topic at hand for a while in the shower, soon the combined effect of steam, fragrance of soap and shampoo plus warm water works well on soothing the spoilt mood. In no time a hundred topics such as the extravagant dress of some lady I saw in the mall today or neighbors garden or the shoe stand comes to my mind.

And the last one is exercising, for me its thread-mill while listening to Ipod. Else walking about 1.2 miles outside. Since walking out doesn’t happen frequently due to the cold wind blowing I opt for walking on the thread mill. Initially I find myself working my temper on the thread-mill and soon as the sweat trickles down I realize I actually am enjoying the exercise and the music. A definite 10 points for this one.

Any more tips on shrugging off a bad day? Soothing the one ticking nerve in the brain? What do you do when you are simply annoyed?