Rat-a-tat-tat

I was seated at my desk early this morning, working on a lesson plan, when my concentration was interrupted by a loud "Rat-a-tat-tat." It was so quick that I could not discern what it was or from whence it came. I dismissed it as an abberation only, but before I could re-focus on my task at hand, the sound came again. Rat-a-tat-tat!. And again, very quickly this time and almost insistently. Rat-a-tat-tat! Now it had my attention. The second sequence seemed to resonate with a slightly different tone. "You know," I said to myself, "I'll bet it's those woodpeckers!" So I rose quietly from my chair, walked quickly to the window that looks out on my deck, and slowly raised the blind. There they were! Not one, but two red-headed, white breasted Acorn Woodpeckers, very common birds around Santa Barbara. But these creatures were not pecking food storage cavities in a palm tree or telephone pole; they were drilling holes into the top rail of my redwood deck! Tat-a-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat! One of the birds looked up at me as if to assay any imminent danger and then nonchalantly resumed his act of vandalism on my private property. His comrade didn't even bother to look up. Rat-a-tat-tat!