Neighborly

A neighbor, Joe, stopped by yesterday.  He'd been over some time back to ask about the big oak that fell a couple of years ago, saying that he'd cut it up and split it for half of the firewood.  That's a heck of a deal for both of us.  It is a huge tree.  Joe and Steve used to go up into the national forest after the loggers had been through and cut firewood from the slash piles.  My only rule was that Steve couldn't go on these outings alone.  This was before cellphones and way out in the boonies where no one knew where you were, working with a chainsaw on a pile of logs was, in my opinion, way too dangerous.  I think Joe's wife felt the same way.  Clay used to go sometimes, and sometimes I'd go.  My job always was to load the cut rounds into the trailer and fill the truck.  I can't say it was easy, but in its own way, it was fun.  I could no more do it now than fly to the moon.

We had hit one of those heat spells after Joe had asked about the tree and the hot, dry weather had presented its own danger...fire.  That's okay, that tree isn't going anywhere.  In the course of conversation, I mentioned that I'd recently been given those goofy, antisocial Delaware chickens.  Joe had had a small flock that was also taken off by, he thought, a bobcat.  He asked questions and wanted to see the Delawares.  We agreed we really enjoy chickens and it wouldn't surprise me to learn that he soon gets more.  As an aside, the little girls are pretty good layers, but they seem to have no mothering instinct at all.  I've never found one sitting on her nest, and the eggs are always cold when I pick them up.  Oh well, six hens is plenty.

I have two little cat beds and where does Celeste sleep?  On Bessie Anne's bed.  Ralph prefers a sunny spot on the back of the couch.  Bess walks wistfully by her bed, but she never asks Celeste to move.

Bessie was one happy dog last evening.  She asked to go out after dark so I turned on the porch light for her, and it's a good thing I did.  She's been hunting for weeks for that dried up squirrel she'd discovered and last night she found it again.  She wasn't too pleased with me when I wouldn't let her bring it in, but I have my limits.