Quick....

...what time is it?? Ok, there is time. Three (3) days until my birthday. This is important.

I will be 60.. Six- 0.

And that's the way it is....

Gravity...

There is a spider walking on the ceiling. Obviously he has no fear of gravity. Does he even know about gravity? If he was exempt from it, he would float. What is he thinking...

"c'mon feet, don't fail me now. Keep on sticking to the ceiling. Or, wow, I have three sprained ankles and will five legs be enough to hang on with."

Does a spider even know where he is. We can look across to the other corner of the room. How far do they see, probably only about two inches. What if we could only see a two-foot circle around us as we walked around. A veritable geographical Alzheimer's. But the spider, he doesn't have anything else to do. All he can to is wake up (maybe he doesn't even sleep ), walk in an irrational path and eat whatever gets in the way, if it is smaller than he is.

And that's the way it is....

Never Cry Fox...

The lot my house is on contains 7,800 sq. ft.. In ordinary city aspects, that is quite a nice size. My property also includes the adjacent lot, that is irregular in shape but probably larger in total size. On the other side lie several acres of forest and a lava rock ledge about 30 feet high. In that lava rock lives a family of foxes. Unlike a coyote or wolf, they are not wide travelers. They pretty much stay close to the den. Where is the den? Don't know exactly. What I do know is that they regard my empty lot and back yard as part of their territory. Also unlike a coyote, wolf or ordinary dog; when they need to go to the bathroom they do not go just where ever they are, they seek out and use the same spot over and over. They have no natural predators. Wolves have been hunted to pretty much extinction, coyotes have had bounties put on them and are wary of human occupation. Foxes on the other hand are quite comfortable around humans. Their favorite natural food is ground squirrels. They also eat house cats. Dogs are generally too large and defensive. But a tame, Friskies fed meow.....YUMMOO...






In years past my sister has seen them. Early one morning in August I saw the top of one's head in the brush on the empty lot. There are also two other major signs of the Foxes. Like I said in an earlier post, I have ground squirrels living around the property. In the back behind the workshop I found these all together in one place.

One is an adult and the other is a young one. Two skulls, two leg/hip bones and another bone.




The ultimate sign of the Fox Family is...POOP. Lots and lots of POOP.


This one is the Papa Poop.
































This is Mama Poop.




















And this is Baby Poop.

Just think in terms of the 3 Bears. Well, the 3 bears are brown....

And as shown by the larger picture, it is right in my back yard. On the right side back, there is a red sign that says "NO DUMPING". The ground underneath the sign is where the POOP piles are located. Too bad those foxes can't read....

Remember, they like to do business in the same place. Very distinguishable from other canines.





How do I know I am correct? Easy test, Google "fox poop" and see the picture that comes up. A pic comes up from a Yellowstone study almost identical to Papa Poop above.

In time...

Just in time. The storm is coming. Wind and rain for sure, possible snow. Snow listed for 10" above 5000 feet. We are at 3300 feet and at that, an extra 1000 or two usually makes no difference. Looking out the window, the wind and rain have already started. Had the whole family over today to get things started. The truck went to Les Schwab for 4 studded tires. The new wood got stacked under cover to protect from the wet. And I made funny hats for the outside water faucets. All this week the night temps have been in the 20 degree range and it has warmed up to the high 40's during the day. But now the outside pipes are now wrapped with insulated foam and yellow fiberglass pipe wrap. This protects from the cold. Then covered up with my funny hats to keep out the water or snow.

Wood is now becoming a major concern for me. Got to have it to keep warm. The new load arrived yesterday afternoon and today it was stacked out of the weather. See for yourself.

Next door, got to watch out, see they may be hiding Beavers over there. Don't want them to eat my wood..

Or got to watch the man on the other side. He just sets things on fire. I told you, people here can just burn things any time they want.

Funny hats for the water faucets...

I will have more good stuff later....

iWood...

Sunny day outside. Look at the pictures. First the people.

Sister Civic. This is my sister (In the blue). She is a voting precinct official and is on duty from 6:30 am to 9 pm on election day. Which was Tuesday last week.

Now, for something entirely different. The following pic is a little out of focus. I took it while driving. Here in town, if you have something in the yard you don't want, it is ok to just set it on fire.

Right on the side of the road, in town...






Got marshmallows??


And these... they are water meters in front of my house.

Ahhh, the wood. Making little pieces out of big pieces.

Now got to stack it where it won't get wet in the rain.

All that for this....

Gee, I almost forgot...My birthday is coming up very soon, less than a month.

Send me a chicken fried steak.

Syntax...

A turn of phrase. Does it matter?

Life at the end of the road. The road at end of life. Humm. Is no man an island, probably not. But I seem to be a peninsula. The road stops here, for now. I listen to coyotes and foxes at night. Squirrels dig up the yard and deer visit me in the middle of the night. The Death House across the street now only has stored Christmas ornaments and other boxed up stuff. Mrs. B is very old and doesn't come out of the other house unless her daughter picks her up. J and J next door work a lot. Both mostly at night. One graveyard at the mill the other swing at the restaurant.

I have lots of ME time. To mimic a phrase, I live vicariously through myself. I stay up late whatching Dish TV and still get up before 7 am.

Day after...

Day after Halloween. All is well. No leftover Zombies. Candy missing only a few pieces, that I have eaten. Smart people. No one showed up at the door.

Deer show up at night and eat the apples that have fallen off the trees. I see the fresh tracks in the damp earth. Some seem to be quite large. I also have some ground squirrels that are digging up the yard around the edge of the house. There are also feral cats out here, about six of them. How apropos for the black one to walk through the yard and across the sidewalk last night just after dark. I would have taken a picture if the cat had of slowed down a little, but he was movin' on.