Once upon a morning hour, As I readied for my shower, After first attending, briefly, to the nature's call. Suddenly there came a tapping, As if someone gently rapping, Tapping at the outside wall. Only tapping, that was all.

As I muttered, "What the heck'er" There appeared a small woodpecker, Black and white and red-head swooping, flying from my household wall. Just a bird who made a tapping, With his beak, insistent rapping. Pecking at my outside wall. I'd serve him lunch, if he'd just call.

The little bugger made a divot Large enough for him to pivot. Large enough to hold the critter, wings and tail and all Scarce a day he'd been a rapping, Several hours of vicious tapping, Digging holed within my outside wall. If this was fun, he had a ball.

Anyhow, on my way home from shopping I stopped at Lowes and got some epoxy wood patching material that turns out to be almost exactly the same shade of gray as the trim the woodpecker has been tearing apart.

I didn't hear any more tapping on Friday, so I'm hoping the scent, color, or hardness convinced the bird to try somewhere else. It's not like my property isn't littered with dead, insect-infested trees. Roughly a third of my woods were ash (now dead) or cherry (many of which have been knocked over when a dead ash tree fell against them. )