Pileated Woodpeckers, Trees, and Tu B'Shevat

Yes, these items are all related! In some twist of irony, Lorie and I have solved our tree problem. We've been told that the area we live in has a high population of pileated woodpeckers. If any of you are familiar with the most famous pecker of them all (did we just say that?), Woody Woodpecker is pileated. Picture a bird about a foot tall, and you've got our woodpecker. Scary. It's a HUGE bird. We're going to try to put up a picture of an owl or a plastic owl and hope that he goes away. We've heard that they can even destroy homes. This is not good. Here's the ironic part. Today, is the Festival of the Trees in Jewish Time. It's Tu B'Shevat! Lorie and I had a beautiful Seder tonight where we ate all different kinds of fruits! We dined on grapes, apricots, kiwi, almonds, mango, banana, raspberries, and peaches. It was delicious! We drank both white and red grape juice, and we followed a Seder (or "Order") for our meal. It was short but very meaningful. Many Jews arrange to have a tree planted in Israel for this day. We've decided to focus on our own tree this season. We'll post a few pictures of our Seder.