L Is For...

Ninety-nine percent of my time schedules are self-imposed, and I still manage to run Late.  It was after midnight when I went to bed last night because I got so engrossed in a sewing project for Christmas presents.  Consequently, I'm Late this morning getting the trash down to the big road.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that, come Christmas, I still won't be ready.  Joel, Judy, and Arden are all compulsively punctual...more power to 'em.  It does put the spurs to my sides when we are to meet for any occasion.

I was Laughing at the squirrels in the barn yesterday.  It was a case of Lost and found.  A passing squirrel suddenly stopped and started digging madly in the dirt.  My thought was it might be making another pass-through under the barn wall, another hole to plug.  However, evidently mice had put a stash of stolen grain in a shallow burrow.  (Another sign of an early winter?)  The word spread and more squirrels came to raid the Larder.  It was "serve yourself," but only one at a time...there would be a minor skirmish if one had trouble waiting its turn.

It occurred to me yesterday, as it has so many times in the past, how Lucky I am to have the time to sit and observe my little world.  It would have been so easy to miss the small squirrel drama had I not been there milking.  I see these furry brigands so often that I recognize individuals; one has a malformed tail, another is missing the tip of his ear, that one is obviously a matriarch, and, of course, there's Al Pacino.  The same goes for the mice...I know them by their physical and personality characteristics.  Sometimes it gets down to the minutiae of life and death...a spider wrapping a victim in its version of Saran wrap for a later meal is a marvel of efficiency. 

Tree Guy came and cut more oak.  Only the huge trunk is left whole, and he cut the underneath branches so there's no possibility it could roll.  Every worker needs his atta-boys, so when he was done, I went out so he could show me the day's accomplishments.  While talking, we watched a pair of red-tail hawks on the hunt.  More knowledgeable than I, he knew that one was very young by its coloring and the lack of a full tail spread.  It made a couple of failed attacks on the ground squirrels, but then it sat on a power pole and watched the successful adult as if to say, "How'd you do that?"

No wonder I'm always Late...I'm watching my very own nature documentary.  By the way, I missed the trash truck...again.

(No, Kathy V., not yet.)