stomp, mesa’s posture and parenting advice



Turkeys and deer have started passing through again. They certainly add to the ambience of the place. I’m thankful for this.

A week ago, I brought up the July page on my laptop. Damn. So many mistakes. My editing skills seemed to have quit without letting me know. Hopefully I corrected the errors and will be looking for a new set of editing skills. I do not usually go back and read an entry once it is uploaded. Wonder how many other pages are a mess. Guano.


Rooster scooped out a bed under the wheelbarrow. I saw Mesa using this spot twice. Before this, he never snoozed under the wheelbarrow.

When I get back from a town run, there are three weeks of supplies to unload. Some of the totes and the laundry go into the Nash so I leave the screen door open. Coming in with one load, there was Rooster standing on the threshold looking in. Sure was glad he chose to turn around and jump down. Could have been a messy fiasco.


At times when Rooster is walking slowly, he stomps. One leg kicks straight out, foot is held high and flat, then he forcefully stomps the foot straight down. If one is within a few feet, it’s easy to hear the stomp. And he keeps kicking out and stomping along, very robotic. Has me chuckling. Simple pleasures.


Facing north, one cannot see with the natural growth, but I used the unhealthy tree I cut down earlier to extend the flat spot another five feet. There is some scrub oak coming up in the Golden Crownbeard.

Plenty of rain this summer. June tends to be the hottest month here. Halfway through August temps are in the lower 80s and upper 70s, with night temps around 60º at 7,000’. Last couple weeks down in the upper 50s at night.


Took much longer than I had anticipated but I finished the upper slope. It will work fine on the one day a year that I’ll use it. Local plants will take hold at some point.


One day while working outside, I glanced up and noted Mesa’s posture. Picking up the long handle spade, I moved over towards him then slowed down. Yep, a rattler. I come across them from time to time while hiking and I just walk around them, letting them have their life. On my property however, they’re gonna die. I cannot have rattlers around Meadow and Mesa. Nor me when I’m working and breathing hard, sweating, gettin’ pretty tired when I’m approaching 3 hours and maybe not fully aware of my surroundings. This was the first rattler I’ve come across on the acre. Also the smallest I’ve ever come across, only two feet. His small rattle did not make much noise, not good. Hope it was the first and last, Oh, the posture, I’ve seen Meadow facing larger rattlers twice before, squatting low, on point to a spot on the ground 4’ away and hyper alert. I wonder if all animals realize that a rattler is dangerous and not an animal to get close to.


Here’s Meadow checking out the chopped body. Mesa followed. Wonder what they were thinking about wailing on the rattler. I was surprised of how much effort it took.

How much trouble would this guy be in if he voiced his thought?
‘I don’t know why my in-laws feel qualified to give me parenting advice. After all, I live with the results of their efforts and it’s nothin’ to brag about.’

The ball is in your court. Pick it up.

July sixty minutes sixty years—2650 minutes
July Triple 18—upper: 6010; core: 2565; legs: 4880

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
compared to what lies within us. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Table of Contents

RVwest article ‘Following a Free Spirit’

RVwest article ‘The Space Between the Places’

Comments

JudithK said…
Rooster seems to be doing a fascist goose-step. Sounds like that to me. As for cats and rattle snakes, I learned they are very smart about them. Hope you don't find any more. When I lived out in the boonies, I didn't bother about them unless they had come into my fenced yard. Of course, they probably didn't worry about a fence, but that was my boundary. Inside, they would be killed. Outside, they could go about their business. I used an old 22 rifle loaded with rat shot to kill them. I kind of hated to do it, but that was too close.
September 3, 2022 at 6:24 PM
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