Dear Folks, Yesterday afternoon I was in the kitchen when I heard the strangest sound. It sounded like someone was using a pneumatic drill in the distance. However, in reality it sounded much closer than that as if they were using a huge muffler on it. The sound continued, rat a tat a tat in rapid succession. It was then that I had to smile. I recognized what it was. The first time I heard it was back in the spring of 1983 over 20 years ago. I was in the Navy at the time and one early morning I heard the same terrible racket (it was louder at that time), it sounded like someone was using a hammer on my stove pipe that sticks above my roof top but I didn't have time to go outside and investigate it. I was one of the Department Heads at our district headquarters and the first thing every morning we had a Dept. Heads meeting with the Executive Officer (XO). All of us were always on time but the XO was invariably late. As a result I told those of us sitting around the conference table about the strange sound that morning. None of us could figure out what might have caused it. The next morning the same thing happened. Rat a tat a tat! I just HAD to dash outside and see what I could see. And I was just in time to see a woodpecker flying away from my shiny chrome/steel stove pipe! I was flabbergasted. Just what did he think he was doing? That morning I again reported on the situation at the Dept. Heads meeting and we were all puzzled at such strange behavior. This went on for a few more days and one morning when the XO arrived at the meeting (in a good humor for a change, I might add), she asked what our discussion was all about. I replied that I was giving them my report of the morning's Bird Watch. She actually smiled when I explained the situation to her. The only conclusion that we eventually came up with was that (1) it was spring and mating season, (2) the woodpecker was intrigued with his reflection in the stove pipe and (3) he figured another woodpecker was invading his territory. Well, this evening after I had just taken my Swiss Steak out of the hot oven, I heard the rat a tat a tat again and I figured that this time the woodpecker had completely lost his mind. The heat of the oven certainly must have heated up the stove pipe to the point where he not only had a bent beak but blisters on his feet. In retrospect, however, this is how I now assess the situation. A number of years ago I had a second bathroom installed on the second floor of my house and as a consequence there's a shiny metal exhaust(?) pipe sticking out of another part of my roof. Since the noise wasn't as terribly loud this time and since I didn't hear any "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" I'm assuming that he was attacking the other shiny pipe. Ah, the wonderful sounds of Spring! :-) vee