Doesn't Take Much

I'm easily amused.  It probably comes under the heading of "simple pleasures for simple minds," but I get tickled when I hear Narcissus sweet-talking to his reflection in the truck bumper.  I'll say this for him, he is a constant lover.  The other toms walk past, probably thinking, "He's at it again."

I also get a kick out of the myriad mice in the barn.  My tiny companions in the milk room barely move away as I go about the business of the day.  While they eventually clean up every last morsel, they pick through the piles of grain for the choicest pieces first, nibbling flakes of corn and cracking seeds while sitting and watching me with bright bead eyes.  Excitement is rampant when the first squirts of milk hit the rake and wipes.  Speaking of wipes, little housewives are padding their winter nests with used wipes filched from the bucket.

It seemed that every time I looked out a window yesterday I saw deer.  There were four, two does, two fawns, in the side yards when Bess and I went out to sit on the deck.  I saw more in ones and twos throughout the day, and at nightfall there were five at one time behind the chicken pen.  It pleases me that the wildlife seem to recognize that neither I nor my dog are a threat.  They don't run from either of us.  A flock of fifteen turkey hens walked within a few feet of Bessie Anne as she sat on the steps.  She just watched the parade go by.

I made a tactical error by picking up a book after barn chores to take out to the deck.  I haven't been reading of late, but that hadn't stopped me from buying more.  "I'll read only until I get warmed up and then tend to business."  "Business," whatever might have been on the agenda, got lost in the pages somewhere.  Moving from the deck to the living room, the next thing I knew it was time to put the kids to bed.  Four hundred-fifty pages down, about two-fifty to go.  I promise, right after I finish this one, I won't pick up another book until after Thanksgiving.

The wood stove was lit before the coffee was made this morning while it was still dark.  First light - what can I say?  It doesn't take much to please me.