How cool it was today! I was mowing the lawn in the evening before dark when I notice a raccoon running into my yard and up one of the pine trees from across the road. Something scared the little guy and I watched as he scurried up the smallest of the pines in my yard. I shut off the riding mower and went over to the tree and got a good look at the pretty little fellow. He just looked down at me with fearful little eyes so I talked gently to him, but it didn�t seem to calm him down. I went into the house and got a banana and put it at the base of the tree and kept an eye on it as I went back to finish the lawn.
I went back to the tree after I finished the lawn and the little fellow was on the lowest branch which was only about five feet above me. He was so beautiful, but as I approached he climbed higher. It was getting dark and the fireflies began coming out so I went to sit on the porch and left the little raccoon to go about his business. I sat and watched the bats flitting about and sighed with contentment.
It seems like time is flying by so fast and not much is getting done. I guess I�m just feeling a bit lazy these days. That doesn�t mean I�m neglecting my duties though. I keep the grass mowed and trim the hedges, I just don�t do much housework. I always enjoy doing things outside more than indoors anyway. I guess I just don�t like being cooped up in the house all the time.
My little spooky likes the summer weather too and it makes her very affectionate. She follows me around the yard and loves to roll around in the grass. She is just so cute! She hardly comes in the house during nice weather which makes it nice that I don�t have to change the litter box. She hasn�t brought any animals in the house since last month which is good. Usually I find them while they are still alive in the house, but there was one time where I found a mole under the cabinet after it crawled under there and expired. Luckily the poor little fellow just dried out and petrified quickly and didn�t turn into a maggot infested mess. He never even smelled up the house at all. It�s funny, but it�s not only my kitty that brings in critters. Sometimes, birds will fly in on their own and I wonder if the raccoon has been in the house. I once found the garbage scattered on the floor a bit, and it seemed too �neat� to be a cat as everything was gotten into a bit meticulously. I did see a raccoon sitting on the windowsill looking in at me as I was sleeping. The window is open so spooky can come and go with a ladder and plank making a makeshift �catwalk� to the porch. It seems that others might be using it as well. Well, that�s all for now.
Tuesday June 28th, 2005: Another Beautiful day
Well, it�s been really hot the last few days, in the 90�s even. We haven�t had that since September of 2002 here. It�s nice, but it really brings out the bugs. I went for a walk today and was amazed because I took a trail that I haven�t explored before. I followed it and found that I wasn�t really sure just exactly where I was, but figured it out after a bit. I was on the other side of Wynn pond which is just over the hill and down the road from my house. I found a line of old coke ovens and it was amazing! They must have been over a hundred yards long and very much overgrown. Some of the ovens had quite large trees growing out of the mouths of them, so it�s quite obvious that they have been out of use for at least 40 years or so.
The area I explored was only a half mile from my house and the land was unlike most of the other area in regards to it�s vibrancy. It seemed more �alive� than much of the area around here. Life teemed all around me and I witnessed plants I had not seen in the area before. As I was on my way home by way of the main road (route 857) it began raining. I stopped at the Wynn WWII memorial and saw that both my grandpa and great uncle�s names were on it. I got a few good pictures and enjoyed the rain immensely as it cooled things down into the upper 70�s which made it very enjoyable.
Once I got home I felt very harmonious. It was one of those days where you just feel great to have experienced it. It was of course, fleeting, and my normal angst returned by the time darkness fell. It�s that old feeling that things are passing by too quickly or that not enough is being accomplished in the time that passes. That too is momentary and fleeting though and I simply focus on the wonderful day I had to help me cope with the �blah� times.
Strangely enough, the warmer weather seems to drain me of both hunger and passion. When it is warm, I don�t seem to want to eat, and I don�t seem to really �get into� things as much. I just seem to want to lay around and wait for it to pass. Oh, one funny thing though. After the sun set and it was dark, I decided to pull out my inline skates and take a roll down the road. I have never been good at stopping however and not having been on skates for a while had me struggling to keep my balance. As I started down the hill I picked up speed and I know that I must have been going over 20 miles per hour and accelerating. I got a little nervous because I knew I couldn�t slow down or stop and thought how painful it would be if I fell on the hard asphalt. My feet got wobbly and I was struggling to keep from wiping out so I steered toward an open grassy area on my right and decided to take the spill. When I hit the grass at that speed I instantly tumbled onto my right shoulder, but oddly enough I barely felt the impact. In fact, even afterwards I felt nothing where I hit the dirt. I simply brushed myself off and went back up the hill to the house. Considering how hard I hit the ground, I would have expected to feel it afterwards, but I guess the grass cushioned my fall well.
Oh well, that�s it for now. I had a very enjoyable day and simply wanted to make note of it here.
