Mystery Box

Opening your eyes in the morning is like opening a mystery box...you just never know what you're going to find.  After the soaring temperatures of the last week, today the sky is overcast, and there is the rumble of thunder over the hills.  Pearl and Frank stayed outside last night to enjoy the full moon. As I looked out the kitchen window in dawn's first light while the coffee perked, I saw what I thought was Pearl coming around the curve in the driveway.  The stride wasn't quite right, though.  Since I hadn't had my coffee yet, I wasn't at my best, so it wasn't until the creature was much closer that I realized it was a grey fox.  Of course it made the circle of the drive and went off into the field while I was processing that fact and before I could run for the rifle. 

I realized yesterday that I am running a catering business.  I cater to whims as well as diets.  Esther has taken it into her head that she doesn't want her cereal (goat chow) in her bowl...she'd rather have it on the tray.  She's been flipping the bowl over lately, and most of the food ends up on the ground, which pleases the squirrels and mice no end.  It just seemed the wisest thing to start out putting the cereal on the tray...I am still trainable.  The hummers will bang on the windows if I let their feeders get low.  Just as I opened the door yesterday with a basket of wet laundry to hang, I noticed the Mafia Boys in a group under the clothesline.  So as not to disturb the toms, I quietly closed the door and waited an hour or so until they'd moved on.  When the cats want to go outside, I'll sometimes open three doors before they decide which door they'd like to go out.  Deer and birds have eaten every piece of fruit from every tree this year.  The thought that I'm in charge here is just an illusion.