Farview Mysteries

Braveheart, the single mouse in the milking room, plucked up his courage and made a fast dash across the wide open space.  I mentally cheered as if the quarterback had made a touchdown.  The question is, to where and why did the tribes leave?  They were there...and then they weren't.  Why just this one mouse now?  Is he a leftover from the big colonies, or is he a scout for a new bunch?  I wonder about these things.

Ninety-six in the house and little to no breeze outside, but we went out on the deck anyway.  I can sweat in one place as well as another and I wanted to soak Bessie down.  She suffers from the heat, too.  Stump was at her post, stationary as usual, and then her attitude changed.  Her head went forward and she stared intently down toward one spot in the woods.  Suddenly she began a frantic chittering, certainly not the monotonous, continuous yip warning that Shaddup gives.  Stump was in a panic.  She made a quick run toward the fence line, stopped, gave that chittering cry again, dashed back toward her post, continuing to sound the alarm and looking in the same direction.  What in the world did she see?  I could find no motion in the weeds or under the trees, but her instincts and eyesight are better than mine.  I continued to look, but saw nothing but a few turkeys under the oak and they didn't seem to be afraid.  Stump had run a short way away, but then came back and ducked down to join Rhonda and Raymond.  Another of the Farview mysteries.

Speaking of mysteries, I spent the day reading one by Nelson DeMille, "Plum Island."  I've read and enjoyed a number of his books, but not for quite awhile.  There was a line in "Plum Island" that I particularly liked; it is so apropos to my life.  I may not have it quite right, but it goes something like "The trouble with doing nothing is not knowing when it's finished."  (Made me laugh!)  So I get up and do it all over again.

The excessive heat and poor air quality continue to be oppressive.  We're promised a break, maybe tomorrow, but not today.  Today I'll do nothing again, but I won't be doing it alone.  Clay is coming up!  He said we can watch NASCAR and sweat together.  The man is a glutton for punishment.