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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

Life is a cartoon rat that lives in a hollowed out zucchini ~

The sky was a bright baby blue, with dollops of white and grey whipped crème floating over head.

The humidity had abated for the past two days, slightly. The temperatures were in the eighties, with a cooling breeze that edged its ways over cow pastures and corn fields, filling the air with the pungent scent of wet hay, cows and manure.

Uriah was covered in a layer of powdery dirt. He had spent most of this hot, hot summer hiding under the deck, where he had dug himself a hole to keep cool, Uriah’s favorite place to sleep away the summer. He hated coming into the garage.  I assumed he didn’t want to miss the chance to chase a bird, or run in circles after a rabbit, rat, or skunk.

I pulled out the hose, set a bottle of watered down shampoo on the grill and picked up Uriah’s’ leash and harness.  Then, I looked around for the dusty dog.  He had slipped past me and was heading at a trot towards the apple trees.  Head down he never looked up as I tried to call him back.  Trying to drag him back would be a waste of time.  He always won.

I gave up! I turned off the hose and sat down on the steps, and decided to enjoy the day.

The warm breeze rustled the trees sending a spray of dried leaves floating to the ground.

It is still August and Mother Nature is yelling fall.

I already picked one soccer ball size pumpkin and set it inside on the kitchen table, there was another one slowly ripening, it was slightly bigger. A third had grown entangled in the tomato patch that one has been gnawed on for the past month by the rat family. I tried covering it when I first spotted the dark green fruit; I was excited it was actually growing. Then I was surprised by how much of the unripe pumpkin was eaten and it still grew. Now it is a bright orange buffet table, along with half a dozen zucchinis, whose insides were eaten first. They sat elongated and hollow. Mini rodent condos!

Mice and rats must be drawing straws to see who would be the one to forage for food. I wonder if they realize they are on a suicide mission.

The more they poke around the more they are noticed. The last rat, would yell at me when I came outside. She chattered a safe distance away, like a nagging wife/husband.. I haven’t seen her in a week or more.

With that thought, I saw a flash of dark gray fur scurry from the trees to the garden.

 I stood up to check it out, when this little creature hurried over to watch me!

 It poked its head up between the leaves and blinked. It had big cartoon eyes, a tiny body and the biggest roundest ears I ever saw on a rodent.

Uriah ambled over to find out who I was talking to, and then decided to save me and raced into the zucchini plants. The rat ran in the opposite direction and Uriah was left searching for something that was no longer there.

I stood and watched. I took notice that the grass needs to be cut. The door frames should be painted. The deck should have a coat of stain. And there is a nest of hornets or paper wasps that really shouldn’t be hanging near the door. 

All this and more should be added to my, ‘To Do’ list.

Things that I have to do before winter!  Stuff I can only do in the summertime.

Hmmm!  Like eating ice cream!  Once that thought flashed into my head, I put away the shampoo and dug in the freezer for the last ice cream bar. I un-wrapped it, then sat outside, on the steps, mentally adding to my list, ‘Get more ice cream!’

Uriah’s nose immediately zeroed in on the treat.

We shared…

Categories
Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

Mirror, mirror on the wall!~

Kaoru cleaning PJ

Last night I was woken up by an odd sound,  ‘Pud-pud-pud-pud’!  Sanosuke was standing on his hind legs and digging at the door mirror. I watched him sit back on his haunches and stare into the mirror, past his own refection.

He wanted into the mirrored image. A part of the bedroom he thought he needed to explore. ‘Sanosuke in wonderland’…

I rolled over and fell back to sleep, but within the hour the same noise woke me!  Pud-Pud-Pud-Pud!  He looked like he was practicing on a boxing speed bag. That was how fast his little paws were moving.

 I sat up and got his attention away from the mirror.  “Sano! That’s a mirror! You can’t get inside a mirror!” he reverted back to the mirror with a shake of his ears and a downward turn to his whiskers, frowning, first at me, then at the mirror.  

This went on two more times during the night.

I even got up and stared into the mirror to see if, maybe, a bug was crawling just out of Sano’s reach. It wasn’t.

Sanosuke wanted to find a way into that other room.

He does the same fast run on the sliding glass doors in the kitchen. Now, that, I understand! He wants to either catch a bug, or have me open the doors; allowing him to sit by the screen and stare outside at the birds…

PJ-Sanosuke center-Kaoru

But what did he want in my bedroom mirror?

Sanosuke checking out the freshly harvested potatoes
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Nature photos Nature Writing Rambling Writers Site

Doctor, Doctor, give me the news!~ Or, Mmm Cucumbers, wear ’em or eat ’em!~

Uriah hates the humidity! 

Most summers he seemed to enjoy the heat.

Well, he is getting older, twelve now. 

This summer he will only head out for a walk if he really has to, or when the sun is going down. Then, the puppy in him will come out. His head will go down and his nose will nearly rub along the ground. He will catch a scent and be off- in a slow flash. But once his face is buried in a hole, I have to literally drag him away. I learned never to do that, some of those little burrows are occupied, and getting sprayed takes away my taste buds. 

This past week, Michael had an appointment for his asthma, back, and head, lots of running around.

 I ended the week  with vision problems. On Thursday morning. I crawled out of bed and my vision was blurred, my eyes swollen and my face hurt, time to take me to the doctor. 

The verdict: allergies…

I loved when the doctor said, “Well, as you get older” (notice she didn’t involve herself in this aging process) “you will develop allergies you never had when you were younger.” (She really was beating those words up!)

I was so upset about getting old…  I forgot to mention, the eyeliner pencil I tried out earlier in the week.

Michael gave me the told you so… and a “Ha! He’s not old!” speech, as we drove home.

I needed eye drops, which my insurance wouldn’t cover. I could buy them outright for, $179.00 or wait another day until the doctor was contacted and changed the prescription. 

Thinking about it for a minute, and realizing my pocket change was in a jar in the back of my closet. I decided to wait.

While I waited for my eye drops, I relaxed in front of the television. I sliced up a cucumber and propped my feet up. Did I ever mention that the newest kitty, Kaoru, loves cucumbers? Well, she does, she jumped up next to me and we shared. She can really chow! 

 At one point I fell asleep with a cucumber on each eye, and she tried to steal them.

I would highly recommend putting cucumbers on your eyes; they helped cool the allergies and brought down the swelling. 

 I finally got the eye drops, and I may not have to use them at all,  because of those cucumbers.

What you lookin' at!

 I love this picture. I kept referring to them as ‘cows’ Michael set me straight, bulls, not cows. I wonder what they were thinking?

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Nature photos Nature Writing Poetry Rambling Writers Site

I have been writing for the Examiner.~ Or, Half a penny a day brings me closer to a laptop…!~

I have a streak of competitiveness that runs through me.  So when I signed up for the Examiner and found out that they won’t pay me until I hit twenty-five dollars and only then on the twentieth of each month through PayPal.  Well…

I had to get money in that first full month!

They have rules.

  1. You have to write about your subject. Mine is plants in Hampshire.
  2. You have to have a picture- sizes are different in article than in slide show
  3. You have to connect your articles to each other
  4. You have to mention local businesses
  5. You have to write between 200  to 500 words
  6. You should use quotes

 

I growled at my monitor, “Alright examiner I am up to the challenge!”   I have to fix some of the earlier articles to follow the rules, while I am writing new ones.

What I found is that writing about a specific ‘subject’ is a lot harder than it sounds.

Sometimes my odd sense of humor comes out.

Like this one:

“Why go to Spain on vacation when you could visit Hampshire instead”

My number are slow, or at least the money amount. Here is today’s tally.

Today I made $0.49 and I had 51 hits…

The average for the, Home and Living section was 16..

Hmmm!

Is my math right on this, I would need over 2,500 hits a month to get that twenty-five dollars…

Anticipating all that cash from the examiner…  I started a laptop jar in the back of my closet.   As of today I have a whole dollar-eighty!  And a fake mouse…added by the cats.  Woohoo!

Ahh! I love a challenge! 

Here is a poem I posted in my last article.

microsoft clip art

party in the mushroom rings

by Gerardine Baugh

the garden faeries laughed
and planted seeds of fun
they whispered, it was they, who
mixed up the garden, and
planted the green beans far from their trellis
eggplant was placed next to the pumpkins
tomatoes rolled into the neighbor’s yard
they sang and danced inside the ring of mushrooms
table set,
feasting on strawberries and corn
potatoes and cucumbers
glasses rose
a toast to the gardener
drink of dandelion wine
the fey cheered and sang songs
of times past, and those to come
some sat under mushroom umbrellas
wide and white, others
sat atop, and
scrutinized with words of nettles
peals of laughter danced across the lawn
this, the dark end of the new moon

Categories
Nature photos Nature Writing Poetry Rambling Writers Site

Walking in a field of lace~poetry

I took a walk intent on what I was to see

Tall grass and wildflowers

Mud and toads, grasshoppers and birds

But my intent was not to be

 

Even though each flower had grown spirited and tall

The winds interfered with my view

Grasshoppers hopped under my clothing,

And the mud enticed me to fall

 

I sat in the middle of a pattern of lace

My intent shifted over wind swept fields

I connected within that moment, and

I watched the bees and butterflies race