Wednesday Morning Ramblings on a Personal Note

Saturday morning I emptied the rain gauge here at the Aerie. It had rained pretty hard all Thursday night and again, although somewhat more briefly, Friday night. I estimate we had 0.7 inches of rain from the Thursday-Friday rains and another 0.2 inches in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Those, however, were what I would call Camelot rains, that is, they occurred over night when we (the cats and I) were safe and snug in our home.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday were lovely fall days with bright sunshine and cool temperatures topping out around 60 degrees. There was plenty of wind to go along with that, however, and leaves were falling line crazy. I would estimate that 80% of the leaves have fallen from the trees. Only a few of the oaks and aspens continue to hold on to their reddish-brown and yellow foliage. The locusts on the edge of the yard are still green but they are slow to emerge in the spring and late to give way in the fall, and when they do drop, the leaves are often still green.

The rain returned on Tuesday morning just before daylight and it's been falling off and on since with varying degrees of intensity.It won't be a surprise to find close to another inch of rain in the gauge when it finally stops later today. (At least that's what the weather gurus are saying--that it should end this afternoon.)

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Terry has left on the second half of her fall tour of sewing conventions. She got back on Sunday from going to New Jersey to visit her Mom and daughter Jessica. This after she had been down to South Carolina (family) and Atlanta (SAGA). She spent Monday doing her laundry and packing her bags and the Aveo for her trip to Hattiesburg, MS (military reunion of her Dad's old unit) and Santa Fe, NM (EGA). Early Tuesday morning she headed south in a slight drizzle, hit a few pockets of heavier rain in southern PA, but then saw the sun come out as she crossed Virginia. She stopped in northern Tennessee just off I-81 for the night. That's about half way to her destination so she should make Hattiesburg this evening.

The military reunion used to be for the remaining members of the Polar Bears who served under Gen. Omar Bradley during WWII. As time and age have reduced their numbers, the offspring of those soldiers have continued to meet more or less as a commemorative of their parents' sacrifice and service. Hattiesburg, MS was the place most of them did their basic training before heading over seas and so marks the beginning of  their involvement in the war. With so few left, it may also mark the end of the original members' involvement in the reunions. (I think, at last count, those able and willing to travel to these events was down to half a dozen as most are now in their nineties.)

A few days in Mississippi and then Terry will be heading west to the Embroiderers Guild of America convention in Santa Fe, New Mexico for hours of classes, interspersed with banquets, barter, and sight seeing.

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Yesterday I went to the local Agway to purchase a new collar for Miss Kitteh. She had slipped out of the fancy red rhinestone job--again--and I couldn't located it. That red number was just like any belt with a series of holes through which a metal bar would go, but it was too lose on her little neck. Not only could she get her front leg through it to wear it like a bandolier, but she could, through vigorous scratching, undo the catch mechanism.

So I got her a bright pink job with a click catch instead...and a metal food bowl of her own...and a Tick Twister tick remover. The Tick Twister worked great in removing the large, swollen tick that was on her neck just behind her right ear. It  looks like the claw end of a hammer and is used almost the same way as that claw hammer would be used to remove nails with one important difference: instead of pulling the tick out, you twist it out. It took me about two minutes to get the thing out but that was more because Miss Kitteh has some very fine, long fur. And the Vasoline I had applied the day before was still gunking that fur up a bit even though it had little affect on the tick. Any way, tick is now toast.

Kitteh has a new collar. I had to put a bell on it but when she gets her shots, the tag will replace the bell. I did find the old one stuffed along side the cushion  of a chair in the basement where she has been known to nap the afternoon away. The collar was unhooked and not merely squirmed out of. The chair is convenient to the litter boxes, the dry food, and the water dispenser. She may be young, but she ain't stupid! It took her one day to figure out that when the other cats make a racket outside our bedroom door in the morning it means someone is going to show up in the kitchen and put food in the bowls for her to eat! And, now, she has her very own stainless steel bowl.

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I got a call from up north Tuesday morning from the logger. He and his assistant moved some equipment over to my place on Monday and marked the state line a bit better in preparation of removing some trees. They will be taking firs for molding and pulp wood as well as hardwood. I just hope they take enough of the firs to open things up a bit. I was going to just cut the damn things down and let them rot in the hope that sunlight might dry up some of the marshy areas that have been created by the dense trees. With luck, any tire ruts he makes will also help drain the area. There are no marsh flora or fauna involved here, it's just plain wet with cedar and fir trees. Some drier areas have hemlock too. Al of these keep the sun from reaching the forest floor and prevent any sort of understory from developing.