Thirty Years Already?!

 So, it would seem.

We went big last year.  You know, the new furnace.

This year we will celebrate by painting the living room purple!

It's the Most Paranoid Time of the Year

 

Must be mid-November, she's donned the orange vest.  

I heard her telling a group of deer to stay close to the house.

Safety first here at Bad Dog Ranch!

Down Come the Rainbarrels

 The rain barrels must be taken down for the winter.  Frozen water doesn't flow.  My routine is to put them up around April Fool's Day and take them down around All Saints Day. 

These pictures are from August.

Sometimes the trail camera takes pictures of wind.  Rain is a little easier to see.

This runoff bucket is the reason the trail camera was positioned there.  My hope was that the camera would catch the culprit.  You see, every now and then this bucket is found lying on its side.  Who is doing it?  Alas. There are no pictures of anybody caught in the act.  Not even the wind.

Suspects abound.

Ducks like water but it's probably not them.

Not highly likely.

Other suspects:

Unlikely, a bucket is not her style.  She'd rather lick dew off the side of the rain barrel.

 

Maybe

Maybe

Don't know

Perhaps

Possible

Likely

We may never know.

It's Spooky Out There

 Lately, my trail camera footage has proved to be more intense than usual.

 

Sure, one spooky image is fun.

Two is a little bit disturbing.

Three?  Alarming.

Four?  Well, according to numerology, it's a no-nonsense number.  Hmm. How comforting.

They Tried to Warn Me

  

We all know that our world is full of germs, most of which you encounter on your kitchen counter.  Naturally, I’m concerned about the health and safety of my family.  Experts tell us that that sponge you use to wash dishes is not nice and clean from all that cleansing dish soap. 

That sponge is actually a vast growing medium for legions of dangerous pathogenic bugs.  Some people use a dish cloth instead.  They toss it in the wash machine after every use, or so they say.  Sure, you’re washing that cloth in hot water.  That ought to get it clean. Trouble is, you’re putting it in with other items that are also washed in hot water.  You know, like underwear.  After that, it’s clean enough to eat off of?  Or rub against things you’re going to eat off of?

Never mind, I prefer a sponge.  The size and girth of a sponge is simply superior for the job of washing dishes. Still, there’s the problem of how to clean the sponge.

Do Not put sponge in microwave!  That’s what the label on my favorite sponge four pack brand says.  It doesn’t say why.  I’ve wondered about that, but never deeply.  I developed a system for keeping the dangerous bugs off my sponges.  After washing the dishes, I would wring the sponge out (to the dampness of a perfect compost pile) and place it in the microwave.  I cannot recall how I came upon the ideal number of seconds to do the proper job of sanitizing the sponge, but it was under one minute.  

Foreshadow Alert!

Then we got a new microwave.  I hadn’t yet figured out how to make it run for a specific number of seconds so I just pressed GO and waited till the countdown of seconds reached the correct number, at which point I would open the microwave door and remove the sponge.  That worked fine till one day I pressed GO, then wandered away.

 A minute later, the microwave beep beep beeped to proclaim that where there is smoke, there is fire.  I opened the microwave door to dreadful smelling smoke and flames rising from the half gone blackened sponge.  I pulled the plate thing out of the microwave and carried the hostile festive sponge flambe’ onto the back porch and tossed it on the grass.  It kept burning till I flipped the plate thing over it.  Later, examining the carnage, it was clear that at least three quarters of the sponge had, well, melted away.

It was a new sponge too.  A purple one.  

Some Trail Camera Stuff!

Lily on point.

Henry after berry picking.  For some reason, he looks crazed.  Maybe it's because Lynn doesn't share.  

Dove Head with Distant Flowerpot

Deer contemplating a home invasion?

Mighty Buck 

Exciting News!

 

An excerpt of my novel is featured in the Penmen Review.

It's July

 Warm enough for Malcom to be outside.

The harvest is going strong: squash and peas and beans, tomatoes soon.  

We've had some nice wild mulberries and raspberries and blackberries this year.  Now the boysenberries are getting ripe!

Of course, there is still mowing to be done in summer.  

It's hot and hilly but the groundskeeper is unafraid.