You DID want this wood in the cart, didn't you?

Sometimes Mother Nature is too cooperative!

I didn't have time before it started raining to burn the privet I'd cut out of the driveway, so I covered the load on our brand new cart and left it next to our burn spot. I didn't hesitate to leave the cart out in the rain because we'd painted the tubing (red) and added extra stain to the wood. The cover was to keep the load dry.

At 5:30 AM the wind dropped the thirty years old, two years dead tulip poplar. It was on our 'round tuit list to be removed as soon as we had funds to hire a tree crew with a bucket truck because it was next to the house. Luckily it missed the house, the fence, the car, and the many trees around it.

My foot and zebra pajama leg should give you an idea just how big the trunk is.

BUT it landed slap dab in the middle of our garden cart.

At least we won't have to move the leftover twigs. If we only had a cart to move the firewood.....

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Birds of a Feather

Guess which photo is the cool north end and which is the warm south end of this 2 blocks long street in Parrott.

Do you have to have the right color vehicle to join, or does the color magically change when you start to work here or worship there?

Powerful Motivation

Several hours puttering in my office passed before I realized that I hadn't heard from Bart, except for the recent frantic bark reserved for "Let me in the house!" Once a stray dog, he has abandonment issues.

He wasn't outside the front door.

Or, on his bed in the loggia, or on his rug by the kitchen. BUT, I could hear his distress whistle clearly so I knew he was somewhere in the house.

He wasn't in either downstairs bedroom.

Finally I remembered his charge upstairs to watch me through the window. I'd refused to let him barge through the door and the crowd of cats waiting for supper on the front porch.

Sure enough, I found him on the landing. He was cowering. For some reason, he'd lost his nerve to go down the spiral staircase.

I turned on the light, sat down and calmed him. I coaxed him. I showed him to go on the outside of the steps where it is wider. He tried but was still afraid to step down.

Rollo and Miss Fern came to help. They soothed him. They showed him. No go.

Finally I gave up and went down the stairs followed by 4 cats who came to help.

Voila' that did it! Bart the Dog followed us.

Powerful motivation: A lot of love and attention, and friends to confidently show you the way; or, the need to not be left behind?

Cat Walk Legacy

Bart has a new companion on his walks. Ambercrombie (so named when I called him Amber because his eyes matched his coat, and Bond objected because that was a girl's name and added the crombie) greets us at our house next door. When he sees that we are not headed home to eat he comes all the way around the cemetery with us. So far, Underfoot has been inside and stayed behind. One of these days we'll see if we can have a 2 cats dog walk.

Puffed Up

I would never have noticed the tiny toad frog next to the handle at the bottom of the house water shut off if it hadn't puffed up to look scary. If I'd been a cat there would've been hours (perhaps) of entertainment with only a sad ending. Instead I placed a piece of wood in the tube in case it couldn't jump out on it's own - before I replaced the loose cap that keeps out rain (and cats.)

Goes to show you that, sometimes, posturing pays off, just not in the way intended.

Sunday Stroller

Apparently "Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!..... "Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! ... is not applied ONLY to snakes.

Pieface the dog spotted this beauty out for a Sunday stroll.

As usual, I hollered for Bond to come to my office and hold the dog inside while I identified the intruder. To our relief we didn't need the shotgun, nor did we have to keep the dog inside since turtles are easy to move to the quieter side of the house.

Get Ready 1,2,3.

If Pieface sniffs out another poisonous snake, we won't be wasting any time looking for the weapons of destruction. I only hope that our preparation will jinx the deal and these will not be needed.

But I don't expect for the bb gun to stay put. We have to pump that one to shut Pieface up if he starts nagging me for breakfast before dawn. OR the fly swatter. It's the only thing that keeps him from biting the vacuum wand/leaf blower. You know, because it moves. He can shout all he wants to then.