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I place my tray of tea on my side desk in my home office. All three kids are off to school on time (which is no easy feat). All parents deserve a reward for surviving the morning chaos (I mean routine). I sit down and tuck my rubber-ducky-slipper-feet under my desk. As I adjust my footing, my slipper sticks to my carpet. I pull and free my foot, but my slipper is glued to the carpet.

Ugh. Found it!

I have found my 7-year-old son’s Crazy Aarons Thinking Putty. It bounced into my office the day before.

I thought he had already bounced it back out. I also thought that the putty wouldn’t end up being played with before falling asleep, but our strict “putty at the kitchen table only” rule was ignored.

This thinking putty has thought its way onto my pillowcase, it has thought its way through two sheet sets and two bedspreads. It has thought its sparkly blue way onto numerous articles of clothing, into hair, and now onto carpet. I am about ready for it to think its way right out of our house.

It’s called thinking putty because it is marketed to act as a fidgeting toy to help you think. It can help people focus and help people with anxiety. However, I think in my son’s case, it should be called “sleeping putty” as he has fallen asleep numerous times while playing with it.

I could handle the slime. My oldest daughter is the queen of making slime and even getting it out of fabric and carpet with contact solution or ice cubes. I can handle the kids making messes. We bake buns from scratch and we play with oobleck (cornstarch and water). However, this putty is different. It seems to embed itself and bond forever with our clothing and bedding.

To figure out how to remove the putty, I visited the website. The solution: Isopropyl Alcohol 99%. It is poisonous and flammable and the instructions indicate that you “Apply full strength to affected areas and rub in.” The label suggests that it will provide temporary relief of muscle aches. In our age of natural oils and using the least harmful substances, there is no way I would rub a poisonous and flammable substance on my skin. So I put on my rubber gloves and I placed all the putty stained items in to the tub.

I poured the rubbing alcohol on and then I used a butter knife to scrape the putty. The fumes were worse than cleaning up vomit. I think a facemask and a well-ventilated area should be required too. I aired out the house and turned on all our fans. Next, I soaked and rinsed the items in water numerous times.

After the putty and alcohol smell dissipated, I used some stain remover to try to remove the evidence of where the slime was. Next, I placed them in the wash with an extra rinse cycle. I air dried the items for a few hours and then I used a low setting on the dryer, while I crossed my fingers that the dryer and our house would not blow up.

The clothing and all our appliances remained intact. I think the type of fabric and how long the putty sits on it influences the stain removal. Some items may need another round of stain removal and a wash yet. I think my white linen pillow will always have the putty outline. However, my office carpet only has a few sparkles left to lint roller off.

Perhaps, the Easter bunny or Santa can bring us more putty after all. When the putty goes astray again, I’ll be prepared to remove it from unwanted surfaces.

During your forest wanderings, you have probably stumbled upon a dead tree or two. No, not a log, not simply a rotten stump or remnant of a tree that once inhabited a space, but rather a refuge for a wide range of life: a Wildlife Tree. You may know these natural monoliths by a different name; such as snag, den tree or cavity tree. I prefer the name Wildlife Tree due to the image it evokes of a bustling entity just waiting to be observed. Far be it from a state of mourning; with their death, trees bring forth opportunity for new life.

Once a tree has died, many things are able to occur, including the magic of decomposition. Invertebrates, bacteria and fungi break down the tree for energy, and as they do, these nutrients are cycled back into the soil system, allowing for new growth. More often than not, a Wildlife Tree will have fungi springing up all over and within it with fruiting bodies—mushrooms—on display in autumn. The arrival of the decomposers is followed closely by primary cavity nesters looking for a snack and nesting site. These are the creatures that excavate a hole in the dead tree as a nesting site in preparation for raising the next generation. You guessed it; I’m referring to woodpeckers!

Here on Vancouver Island we are fortunate to have a multitude of woodpeckers, ranging from the toy-like Red Breasted sap sucker, to the regal Pileated woodpecker that inspired the most popular woodpecker of all—Woody, of course! Woodpeckers forage for food by clinging to the side of a tree with their specialized feet and drilling their beak so fast, that it is a shock they aren’t dizzy.

Depending on the species, they may then extend their extraordinarily long tongue into the larvae filled hole in the tree to collect their reward. The woodpeckers tongue also doubles as protection from brain damage during pecking, as it is so long that is actually wraps around the skull when not in use!

Woodpeckers may drill a distinct pattern of holes into the tree to draw out sticky sap which will act as a trap to collect insects for a crunchy buffet later on. In contrast to arboreal woodpeckers, the Northern flicker is often seen on the ground foraging for ants. However, like all woodpeckers, you can still count on the flicker to drum out a distinct beat on the nearest wooden surface to announce its territory or impress a potential mate.

Most local woodpeckers are distinct enough to decipher from each other except for our checkered friends; the Hairy woodpecker and the slightly smaller and shorter billed Downy woodpecker.

Industrious Downy woodpeckers are able to excavate an entirely new cavity for nesting in about 16 days, and they do this every time they nest. Often, woodpecker parents will line their nesting cavity with wood chips as well as use moss and lichen to conceal the entrance to create the safest home possible.

Typically the primary cavity nesters only use the hole they have created for one nesting season, which leaves an inviting, unoccupied home perfect for the next candidate. Secondary cavity nesters of the avian variety range from tiny Saw Whet owls, Chestnut-Backed chickadees, nuthatches, creepers, wrens and Tree swallows to larger kestrels, Wood ducks and even Great Horned owls. The list goes on and on when discussing the birds who take advantage of cavities made by others.

Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary is lucky enough to host an abundance of Wildlife Trees that provide ample opportunity for exploration. My personal favorite? Woodpecker Castle! Nestled in the field just North East of the lake, this Swan Lake gem can be found if you follow the trail from the Nature House clockwise. Once you emerge from the trees and take in the view of what was previously used as farmland, you will notice a lone dead Douglas fir piercing the landscape. This palace is Woodpecker Castle.

While I don’t always see the activity that is constantly happening at Woodpecker Castle, I always love to stop with groups of visitors and take a few minutes to dive into the importance of Wildlife Trees. On Vancouver Island there are several of our fellow mammals, some endangered, that also rely on Wildlife Trees. Many of our Island bat species, such as the darling Little Brown bat and the regal Hoary bat use these Wildlife Trees as roosts. These havens provide a safe place for our local vampire hunters to rest during the day, before they spend parts of the night feasting on pesky blood-sucking mosquitos. The Little Brown bat is recorded to eat up to 1,000 insects per hour so they certainly need uninterrupted sleep during the day!

Another charismatic mammal that frequently calls Wildlife Trees their home are mama raccoons with their kits. While her kits are still too small to go on scavenging missions, mama raccoon needs to be sure her babies are kept in a safe place. Where is safer than a warm hovel in a dead tree?

During your next nature outing, I encourage you to look closely at what you may have previously regarded as a tree past their prime. Listen and you may be rewarded with the kingfisher like call of the Downy woodpecker, or the drumming of an opinionated Pileated woodpecker. Perhaps you will catch a flash of orange if you are still enough, and you will know you are in the presence of a Northern flicker. Wildlife Trees are full of more life than living trees, but they do require the viewer to look past their misleading exterior to be rewarded. Look closely, and your reward could be great!