Out Of Sight

Cats in the silken jungle.  I'd wanted to get a photo of Ralph and Celeste for the longest time as they hid and ambushed each other from behind the silk plant behind the bathtub.  Ralph is sure Celeste can't see him, and Celeste goes along with his out-of-sight game and always acts surprised.  It's not necessarily a room in which I take pictures, but when I'd go to get a camera the cats would be distracted and follow me; opportunity lost.  These felines are a constant source of amusement.

"For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.  For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.  For want of a horse, the rider was lost.  For want of a rider, the message was lost.  For want of a message, the battle was lost.  For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.  And all for the want of a horseshoe nail."  Back in the day, this is the sort of rhyme we had to learn.  It came to mind the other day as I was cleaning stalls in the barn.  I use a leaf rake to gather the roly-poly pellets to shovel into a bucket to throw over the fence into an ever-growing dung heap called "garden gold" in these parts.  The plastic rake part is held to the handle by a small screw.  Constant use had caused the screw to work loose and it needed to be tightened daily (I have a great Leatherman multipurpose tool in the barn for just such occasions).  Diligent in my duty, I was working away when suddenly the rake head dropped off.  There was that moment of "Whaaa?"  Obviously, the screw had finally stripped its threads and fallen out, leaving me with a bare handle in my hands.  One would think a metal screw would not be hard to find on an already raked dirt floor, but one would be wrong.  For want of a screw, the only way to finish the job was to bend and scrape with the rake head alone.  This is not easy and takes forever.  It, naturally, had happened as I was cleaning the first, not the last, stall.  Screws and the battery for the electric drill (a new hole would have to be drilled in the wooden rake handle) are downstairs.  I've been on a dead run the past few days and after a full day, a rake is the last thing on my mind.

It's pretty much the same thing with the burned-out light bulb(s) in the ceiling fixture(s) in the kitchen.  Getting up at o'dark-thirty, a light in the kitchen is required.  When the first bulb blew, "Oh, I need to replace that today."  Coffee and feeding cats and dog were the priority and then I left the kitchen.  It's a sunny room so I didn't need to flip the switch until the next morning.  "Oh crum.  I really need to do something about that," but went on to the next chore.  Light bulbs in my house all seem to expire at the same time.  Now two are out.  Out is the definitive term here.  I operate on the "out of sight, out of mind" principle.  Today is the day.  I will replace light bulbs and I will replace the screw on the rake.  Someone please remind me of this tomorrow so I can take the pledge again.

Can't stop myself.  Taken just before the sun dropped out of sight.

It was a good day.