FYI

It may be that this is a useless bit of information for many, but it may be helpful for some.  When bending over to clean a goat's udder before milking, keep your head above the level of the goat's back.  Otherwise, she will wag her tail and with unerring aim get you right in the eye.  I should take my own advice, as I can tell you it's like getting hit with a short, hard, hairy rope.

I could have saved myself much aggravation when trying to train squirrels if I'd gone for The Bopper first.  (I never really bopped them; only gave a poke or two.)  Percy and his crew got so used to being soaked that being squirted didn't faze them anymore.  Except for Louie the Lookout checking in, I haven't seen a squirrel in the milking room for days.  The mice tribes are beginning to relax and enjoy their breakfast cereal and milk again.  They do love milk.

In addition to other quirks and foibles, I should admit that I am a compulsive proofreader.  Books that have typographic errors or misused words drive me mad and, even in a borrowed book, I must correct the mistake (in pencil).  I remember a story in which it was stated that the character put her raincoat over a chair.  Wait a minute, where did it say she came in with a raincoat?  I had to read back through to find out.  Turned out it never said she had a coat of any kind.  Aha!  The editor missed that one.  My compulsion extends to movies.  In "Out Of Africa" Robert Redford and Meryl Streep are sitting by a campfire and there are three pieces of fruit on the table.  Redford picks up one.  He has it in his hand, but the film again shows three on the plate.  Oops!  Yesterday I was watching TV (too hot to do much else) and there was a scene in which there was a glass of whiskey on the piano.  The character took a drink and the level in the glass went down.  So far, so good.  However, as the scene progressed, the glass magically filled and emptied all on its own.  Trust me, I ran and reran it over and over just to be sure.  I can't help myself.

The earth has absorbed so much heat that it can't cool off overnight.  At 4:30 this morning it was 80 degrees outside and 84 in the house.  Where are those deltas when we need them?  The clouds gathering at sundown only portend that we may get thunderstorms over the mountains today.  Rain would be welcome, but lightning just increases the fire danger.  FYI, not good.