Monday – May 23

A busy weekend, counting Friday as part of that. Suddenly, here we are at Monday evening already.

Harry was up early on Friday to give a speech at Focus Marines. It was a beautiful day after a stormy night, and was followed by a very wet Saturday. Before the weather deteriorated, I watched a very weird cowbird on the pasture fence. It was next to another cowbird, who pretended not to notice the odd behavior. Living with animals, we learn that they are each unique, as we people are. Every creature is an individual, some odder than others. Of course, the same must hold true for wild animals. This was a comedian cowbird, and it was fun to watch the contortions and silliness, which may have merely been grooming behavior, but certainly was unusual, and went on for quite a while.

I was able at last get some hummingbird pictures, though not particularly good ones. I love the false indigo, but hummingbirds are partial to honeysuckle and columbines.

I was outside all day, doing push mowing and other chores while Nathaniel spent hours on the riding mower. It was a good day for meeting creatures, and, luckily, none were harmed. Turtles are my favorites, and I can identify many of them by the scars on their shells from days they were not so lucky. Today’s turtle is quite familiar. I have pictures from 2019, and it is the same one we saw on the path the day we left for Omaha earlier this month. I will call him Yertle (as in Dr. Seuss’ book Yertle The Turtle), since I see him so often. I say “him”, but I didn’t bother to check the gender, since whenever I see this turtle it is on a mission, and I hate to interrupt it. Next time, I will endeavor to make sure.

By the end of the day, I took a rest, and Harry grabbed the camera.

Saturday was wet – very wet! I spent the day cleaning house – a rare exercise indeed!

At 4:30, we lost electricity to the storms and were without modern convenience for 4 hours! The horses happily went out, with the weather having passed through. We missed the Preakness, but enjoyed a peaceful time together.

Sunday, we had a treat. Our friends Laura and John have a new puppy, Oliver (“Ollie”) and they brought him out for a meet and greet. Laura is a gourmet, and brought delicious lunch along with the cutest puppy ever rescued. He came from Senior Dog Rescue, but at 8 weeks, he is certainly not a senior himself. He does, however, seem to be an old soul. Ollie has big paws to fill – his predecessor, Shorty, was a legendary character, but he seems quite sure he is up to the task.

Jane brought Clover to meet Ollie, since she is tiny, too, but Clover was not interested in consorting with a youngster at her age. She ignored him. The big dogs said hello, but there was no romping and playing. Which is probably just as well. Ollie had plenty of country experiences for one day.

Harry and John have been friends much longer than Harry and I have been married. They were both in the Navy in the 1960’s – Vietnam veterans. The call each other “Boats”. It’s a Navy thing.

Today, Rebecca came to help, and we got many jobs accomplished, not to mention the gardening, and delicious eggs. Another good day.

The horses are enjoying the unseasonably cool weather, as are we all.

Be safe, be well. Slava Ukraini! Peace.