The critter in the attic

For the last few months I've heard a rustling in the attic. It's winter and every little animal needs a warm place to dwell so it really didn't seem like surprise or a big deal when occasionally I would hear the scattering of feet across the ceiling. I figured once the weather warms up the squirrel or chipmunk that's cozied up in the attic will find a new dwelling outside.

With the latest noises this weekend I now suspect that Charlotte and I have a new roommate, maybe even a few new roommates, permanently. Every day for the last 3 or 4 we have heard not just the scattering of feet but actual thumping, chattering and scratching.

The thumping I can understand...there are probably a few squirrels up there deciding where to place their nest of leaves and food stock and these decisions can sometimes lead to fighting I imagine. Or perhaps these squirrels are so excited to be roommates that there's some harmless tomfoolery.

The chattering sounds like squirrel noises...but I'm puzzled as to why a squirrel would be chattering. Do they talk to themselves? Or is this another sign along with the thumping that there are a few that have created a new home for themselves. And what are they discussing...I'm hoping it's just conversations like, "hey look at this insulation it makes a warm bed."

The scratching freaks me out a bit. Charlotte notices it before I do, she'll disappear to the office and then start meowing and when I go to find her she has big fat tail and is staring at the ceiling. Then I hear the scratching, it literally sounds like the squirrel is attempting to break through the ceiling and take over our part of the house. I'm hoping that it will be a Shawshank kind of process and by the time the squirrel succeeds I will be long gone...not that I should be frightened of a squirrel. But, well, many of you know of my bat experience last summer and a squirrel seems like a similar adventure that I would rather not deal with.

All in all I'm okay with a critter in the attic, as long as it stays in the attic. I'm not sure that Charlotte feels the same way, but every cat needs a little adventure and I guess hers will be the scary noises coming from the ceiling.

Wordle

I discovered Wordle today. I have so many ideas of how I will use it. Above is an example of what I just created in about 15 minutes.


So what is Wordle. In wordle you enter your text and then the program creates a word cloud, or also known in the library world as a tag cloud. The words more commonly present in the text will show up larger in the image. It is a visual way to display what the text is saying. It is so easy to use, and you can choose different colors, fonts and styles in which the words can be displayed.

You can also select the maximum amount of words you want displayed in the image. So if your text has 500 words but you only want a small cloud you can select up to 50 words and then the most prevalent 50 will show up. So cool. Oh - and you can use wordle on your blogs. I'll be trying that pretty soon :)

Another helpful hint - Do you want to create a wordle of lyrics from your favorite song but don't have them all or don't feel typing them? Find the song on the Internet. Type in the title or part of lyrics in Google with "quotes around the phrase/title" and then add lyrics after. Here's an example, in Google try typing the following:

"Add to the beauty" lyrics

The first hit will lead you to the lyrics of Sara Groves song Add to the beauty, a fabulous song I might add! Then highlight the whole text, copy it (control c) and paste it into the wordle box (control v). Done, in a few minutes! The power of technology makes me so giddy :)

So I know your wondering, what text did I use for the above image? I'll give you a hint, it's a song. Any guesses anyone? I'll let you think on it for a few days! In the mean time, give Wordle a try....I believe I'll be changing my facebook profile pretty soon with the help of Wordle...give it a shot yourself at wordle.net