To Each Her Own

Fall won't officially begin until the autumnal equinox on September 22 this year, but the trees are getting in some practice already.  Drifting leaves provide cheap entertainment for Ralph and Celeste as they sit on window sills and watch them swirl down.  Me?  I see the same thing and think I need to charge up the leaf blower and get out there while the piles are still manageable.

I get a kick out of the girls.  They have such different personalities and quirks.  Sheila inevitably leaves a few bites of breakfast in her bowl.  Tessie, on the other hand, eats every bit and then signals she's done by throwing her bowl around.  She obsessively cleans up every dropped morsel on the stand.  They make me think of Felix and Oscar in "The Odd Couple."  Sheila can't wait to make a dash out the door, while Tess takes her time, looks around, sniffs the uprights on the stand, and sometimes has to be coaxed outside.  Without Inga to pick on, these two seem to get along quite well and are always together.  It could be that Sheila is smart enough not to start a quarrel with a goat with a unicorn horn, or maybe it's because they realize they're the last of the herd.

Celeste would definitely take the role of Felix.  She gets so irritated with Ralph.  He is admittedly the world's worst when it comes to the litter box.  He'll take a couple of swipes to cover his stuff, sometimes uselessly scratching outside the box, and calls it good.  Celeste comes behind and does a better job for him and sometimes starts to cover up before he's even finished!  I'm just happy he uses the box.

I don't need the calendar to tell me the seasons are changing.  It's not full daylight now until after 7, and sundown comes before 7:30.  It wasn't that long ago that the girls didn't go in the barn until 9 o'clock.  At least the time change won't happen until November 4th and really screw up my days.