Yard Duty

Camera in hand, I will be on yard duty again at Camille's for a few days.  This time I'm determined to get some photos of Frick and Frack (Titanic and Caspian), Shadow, and a new resident donkey, Cricket.  Frick and Frack, or as Camille calls them, "The Evil Twins," were recently shorn and look even more bizarre than they did before.  The game plan will have changed, as Shadow is rather jealous of Cricket and though much smaller tends to bully the new kid on the block.  Cricket was brought in as a companion for Shadow, but Shadow would prefer to be an only child.

Tinka and Bill gifted me with walnuts from their trees some while back.  I took the opportunity yesterday to sit and watch "Giant" and shell walnuts (it's a three-hour movie).  I've shelled nuts all my life, but Bill showed me a never-fail way to crack walnuts that leaves the meat in perfect halves with minimal mess from the shells.  It's true, you're never too old to learn new tricks.

I'd forgotten that "Giant" made such a strong anti-prejudice statement, rare in 1956.  I was never enamored of James Dean; how much angst can one handle?  I did like the movies he was in, but was much more a fan of the 1949 Mercury he drove in "Rebel Without A Cause" than his acting.  It was fun to see Dennis Hopper, later to earn a bad-boy reputation, play the "good son."

The bats have returned, flitting and swooping at sundown.  These tiny creatures hold a strange fascination for me.  As a child, I was taken to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and I've never forgotten seeing what seemed like a never-ending black cloud of bats flying out of the caves at dusk; awesome in the true sense of the word.  The tour program was rather primitive in the 1940s.  I just Googled the site and now the bats are a small footnote at the bottom of the article.

Places to go, mouths to feed.  It's going to be a busy day.