Gasp!

Air quality yesterday left us gasping and curtailed a lot of activities.  The wind had changed direction in the night, blowing smoke from all the fires in the valley up to ricochet off the mountains and bank over the foothills.  That wasn't clouds or fog that hid the sun in the morning.  There was the taste of smoke in my mouth all day.  (And don't I know how lucky I am that this is my only complaint?)

Ralph is constantly finding new ways to amuse himself.  His latest game is jumping down into the deep empty bathtub in my bathroom.  It gives a satisfying resounding thump and then I don't know if he jumps up and down or races around in there like a rollerdome, but it sounds like thunder.  It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't 3 a.m., night after night.

I was putting the girls to bed last night.  Inga and Sheila had gone to their rooms without problems, and I turned to Tessie.  Her ears were at attention and she sounded the "danger!" snort as she stared intently into the big pen.  I looked to see what had her scared and there it was at the far side...gasp! a cat.  It was just a little house cat, but a goat can't be too careful.  I couldn't coax her into the barn until the big dogs next door started barking.  Poor girl, she was frozen in between the rock and the hard place, lion to the left, wolves to the right (goats tend to exaggerate).  She didn't know which way to turn and I was able to grab her collar and lead her to safety, telling her I'd lock the barn door behind her.

It was quite a day.