When the Smoke Clears

Another walk in the woods and tonight’s creatures are mixed. The first I KNOW can’t be a naturally occurring flower down by the stream in a little sunny place. Someone had to have planted this.
The others are cropping up all over the place in the spaces between trees and other places.

What can I [...]

Today was Yom HaShoah, or Day of (remembrance of) the Holocaust and the Heroism. .

Living in a city = nothing but problems. There’s a constant hostility. Call me cynical, but I think part of the reason for a lot of the politeness in a small town has to do with a little Mutually Assured Destruction.
The fact is, in a small town, part of the reason people are polite [...]

The squirrels and I aren’t getting along. It’s a lazy, beautiful Sunday and I have guests in the cabin. One of the young ones, long since having left for greener pastures (and harsher assignments) decided to come by for a visit and stay overnight.
After a bit of breakfast we sat out in the living [...]

I think I might be part of the tension going around. I’m trying to be good but the edges are showing. I was talking with a friend and she pointed out that I have only had one entire full day off in over 6 weeks. She said, “You do realize you are married to your [...]

In spite of the drippy nose, I did get out on the property before sunset today. Again, not sure what it is and it looks like the deer were munching on the nearby leaves, but it’s white and it’s pretty.

Spring is here, green across the mountains. Looking straight up, the sky is a rich blue that can never be recreated in any manmade form, merely mockingly imitated. Closer to the horizon, though, all is haze, a jaundiced haze, not the grey fog I love. Wind made it swirl about, turning the edges of the [...]

Busy morning, in spite of the new bubbling spring and stream I am providing the neighborhood.
I went against the advice of others: no scythe to attack the “yard.” I have an old weed trimmer I obtained from I don’t know where for free. It managed to tear down the weeds and trim up the few [...]

Another busy few days and I can finally see the house in daylight again. And we have a problem.
For a while I knew my well-pump was losing pressure. No big deal, once this conference and the deadlines were over I would make a call, get someone intelligent out here and pay the extortion fees. [...]

this morning on the way to work:
Let’s slow it down. I go a little fast on mountain roads I’m familiar with, but you shouldn’t, judging from the way your back end was skidding around the corners. I know you’re coming up north from one of the more “urban” counties, but so long as you’re [...]

We did manage to hit the mountains. We did manage to train. The steady pace of the march in as we strolled by waterfalls lent opportunity to stomp out the demons of the last weeks. The demons are still there, not enough stomping, but at least their heads are a little flatter and center of [...]

I’m looking for moments of escape tonight. Something is in the air, a disease of unease and I’ve noted hostility and sarcasm in a number of places today. Maybe people are dealing with the pollen, maybe the new heat. Maybe I’m just being an ass and getting what I deserve.
But I want calm. Even [...]

The cabin is a place of peace and harmony. Unfortunately I’ve not been around enough to partake of that, and I have let some of the duties slip. While it’s mostly wooded around here, I do have a small bit of “yard” on a heavy slope heading down towards the stream a short ways.
It’s [...]

I appear to be a confirmed bachelor. Not by choice, probably more by personality. I refuse to date someone out of boredom and I avoid that whole “marriage” thing if I feel the other isn’t right for me or for some reason I know I will drive her nuts in 2 years. Okay, it’s also [...]

Okay, so someone up the chain of command made a decision. Apparently it is a “Bad Thing” to send troops out training when NOAA issues a severe weather warning that includes heavy rain, large hail, and the possibility of tornadoes and flash floods in the mountains. I say we tell them to wear the Kevlars [...]