Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Bits and Pieces

I took the last two days off from volunteering to take care of those ordinary chores like laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping.  The weather was also blotto, but that doesn’t mean that things were entirely boring to me.  I actually got a hair cut today.  You ladies know that can provide good or bad surprises.  As I looked at my hair clippings on the floor, it reminded me of something my friend, Barb, told me.  She told me some people refer to folks of our coloring as Q-tips.  Guess I’m a little whiter on top than I thought.

_MG_4845For you folks that wondered what it was they were planting with the leaf blower in the field next to my rig last week, here’s the answer.  After my day of experience of seed sorting, I’m guessing there is a lot of little blue stem grass seeds out there.  Of course I don’t know how many will sprout with all the white-crowned sparrows and other little birds that have moved in to take advantage of the bounty.  Smile

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With crummy foggy weather, there’s not much to photograph but my traveling companion.  It’s not easy to get Emma to cooperate for that.

I have toast in the morning quite a few times each week, and I noticed recently that every time I made toast there was a fishy smell that seemed to fill the rig.  I have one of those long one opening toasters that I keep at the back of my kitchen counter.  I couldn’t understand why that smell since it had been a week since I’d fried some shrimp in the rig.  So, last night I decided it must be time to empty out all the crumbs in the bottom of the toaster.  As I unplugged it and pulled it to me, I shockingly found an unpeeled shrimp in the bottom!  What the hay?  Egad!  It’s no wonder the toast reeked!  That shrimp was fairly mummified.  I must have toasted it about five times.  I still don’t know how it got there.

Fellow volunteer Bob came over this afternoon to check the underside of my rig for openings that mice might be able to access.  My present battle score is:  Mouse 7, Me 20!  I give the mice a point if they lick a trap clean, or set it off without getting caught.  With having disposed of 20 dead or on their way to being dead (don’t ask…it has to do with a new dance I’ve learned Smile with tongue out) mice,  I was of a mind to blow this popsicle stand.  He found one area about the size of his pinky finger that I missed with the steel wool.  So I’ll give it another night or two.

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After only a couple hours of partly cloudy skies this afternoon, Emma and I watched the fog roll in across the street.  It was only about 4:30, but in came the fog again.

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Emma suddenly went into orbit.  It wasn’t her usual cow or hawk bark, so I jumped out of my chair to see what was disturbing her world.  At the edge of the field next to us was a pack of three stray dogs approaching in the mist.  (hard to see in the descending darkness and fog)  I always feel kind of sorry for stray dogs, but was happy in this case that Emma dissuaded them from approaching.  You just never know.

So I had two days off to do boring chores, but there’s always something interesting to me if I take the time to see it. (or if you somehow mysteriously flip a shrimp into the toaster)

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy