a quarter mile apart

The goatherd's spread

Just down the road.

hummers back

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Location:Up on the roof

forlorn

Sad dog watches me pack the truck.
BTW, our Everest friends and crew are unharmed and helping with rescue.

dog needs home

No Name outside the Goose

RIP YoYo

There used to be a town dog here. She was called, variously, Smiley and YoYo. She had originally been taken in by the local vet, but she wouldn't stay with anyone. She was fat and happy roaming from house to house, visiting and playing with her dog friends. For years, she seemed to sense when I was arriving and lie on my doorstep waiting for me. More about Yo.
  This year there is a new town dog, whose personality is very different. People feed her too, but she doesn't want to be free. She wants to belong to somebody. She gazes into your eyes and says, "Let me into your heart. I need a hearth and home." If you sit outside she will lie under your feet, hoping.
   Yesterday I was returning from the PO and saw her alongside the road, about four miles from town, headed away. Perhaps she had given up on Thomasville. I thought she would be safer there than wandering along the highway, so I stopped in the middle of the macadam. No small thing on a road with no verge.
   "Cmon, get in!" I opened the door. She ran across the highway and looked in, but she would not get in.
   I went down the road a little further, and she ran after the truck. I stopped again and opened the door. I did not dare get out of the truck for fear of a logging truck barreling through right at the narrow bridge.
   She hesitated. She would not jump in. I whistled; I cajoled. Nope.
   As I pulled away, she chased after the truck again. I don't know if she made it back to town. Perhaps I'll find out today. The cafe is open, and she likes to hang around outside, looking at the customers and asking, "Does anyone need a dog?"

earth day roundup

In honor of Earth Day, a brilliant technology to turn salt water into fresh with a couple of clay pots and the sun.
A number of contests for you artist types:
Female screenwriters over 40 have until June 1 to enter a lab funded by Meryl Streep.
Mark Twain humor writing contest—not sure why the kid's prize is less than the adult's. Enter by July 10.
Nature photography awards from Lens Culture. Enter now! Submissions accepted til April 30.
And you have until May 15 to submit your photographs of insects for the entomolological society's calendar.
AND  In case you missed it, the fabulous high diving giraffes video.
Just for fun, a viral Singaporean spoof "I am so stunned like vegetable."

bird in hand

Frank to the rescue

 The red-winged blackbird dive bombed from the sky and lay on the patio, stunned. The dogs leapt for it, but Frank was faster. He took the bird, gasping with distress and shock, in his hands and held it gently until it came to its senses, gathered its strength and flew up into the sky.
  In other bird news, a grackle struts his courtship display on the lawn, and a lone hummingbird appears at the feeder. Spring is here in the Ozarks, though it was in the 40s last night.

Leaning to fly?

jammin'

Life is an adventure. You can get up at 3 ayem and be in Dallas by midday, still in your jammies! Fly well, y'all!

no pix, tnx

The final select

No passport pictures! No! No!

"No! No! No! No!"
It is a bad day to have your picture made.
You are a pro at being photographed, but today is not the day.
Sadly, today is the deadline to get your passport photo. All that is required is to sit in front of a white background and have your eyes open.
But some days that just doesn't seem to be in the cards.
Your teeth hurt.
You have a cold.
You are out of sorts—at least as long as that camera is looking at you.
 Smile! Click.
Buen viaje!

the way home

OK, the roundup.
Daughter Hannah has a new website whose strings are you wearing where you can post selfies with guitar string bracelets. Profits are donated to various charities.  You can see which ones on the site too.
 Stepmother (hah!), Jan Jenner, has published a new edition of her biology text Beyond Race: Human Biological Diversity. It comes very apropos, as it shows that, as far as genomics are concerned, race is an artificial distinction. Put paid to questions about evolution immediately, before we elect a Republican to the White House! Order for your classroom today!
Yes, I'm on my liberal high horse bigtime these days! Almost 10 percent of Americans have severe anger issues and access to guns, according to recent studies.
And speaking of anger issues, on a lighter note (ha!) "Woman Stabs Roommate for Refusing to Stop Listening to Eagles." One might think she is from the Ozarks, but she isn't.
In a different demographic entirely, photog pal Derek Hudson has published a short book about  Millenium Britain, from lower to upper crust. I am planning to buy it here.  What's hanging me up is the pound thing.
A brilliant tumblr site called  Gluten Free Museum depicts what works of art from Van Gogh to Warhol would look like without wheat or products that contain that contaminant. I am still waiting for the "Bubba Richard's Gluten-Free Call-In Radio Show." Sigh. Sorry. That isn't very PC.

quail eggs and morels

Earthy There is nothing better than a morel lightly floured and sauteed in butter. For info about how to find your own check this out. There is also nothing better than a boiled quail egg dipped in mustard sauce unless it is a raw quail egg atop sushi. The problem with boiled quail eggs, though, is that peeling them is even more impossible than peeling a very fresh hen's egg. Don't talk to me about hacks like baking soda, ice water, shaking in a glass, blowing out from the top. If it's fresh, it's near impossible! If you have a foolproof method, please weigh in. PS This would be the perfect inland spring meal with the addition of some fiddlehead ferns.

well. . .

Well, thanks to Drew (with new well, rear), a friend who operated as electrician and plumber rolled into one, the new well is hooked up, and I have had actual showers. I am sure my friends are thankful to Drew as well. The new well produces more water than the old one, and the new pressure tank and jet pump transmit it. The shallow "drove pipe" well is a country thing. I do not drink the water, though plenty do, because my well is only around 19 feet deep and largely ground or river water. But the water is plentiful and recharges quickly, and I can now run all taps simultaneously. And wash in the shower rather than the river! So all is well.

farmers' market

Yes, they're a couple of yupster kids. But, hey, they have great taste!

water over the bridge

Down at "The Slab" the Middle Fork river is flowing over the road at the low water bridge. The water is clear and beautiful, home to suckers and crawdads and trout and water snakes. The road right now is dotted with live turtles (drivers are asked to move them to the side of the road they are headed) and dead possums and skunks. No armadillos yet. I guess those hatch later in the season.

bugged

The cleaner has been delayed. The floors are covered with wasps and the windows with ladybugs. I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and suck them up.
Immediately!
I have a roundup coming up, but first I gotta get to those bugs.

i hate my ceiling

The Worst Feature of the Goose

Every year I swear I will deal with this. And the well. My dream is to have a proper shower. I went so far as to put in a new well and buy a new pump last year, but there was failure to hookup. Now I have to have a 220 line installed for the pump. So now I need an electrician and a plumber. I also purchased several panels to see how a tin ceiling would look. It would look fine, but I proved unable to handle it well enough to install without making a mess. That requires a carpenter. "You would think that in such a depressed area people would be looking for work," says Dianne."But they're not!"
   She speaks from deep experience.

home again

I am home. However, Bear does not appear to be in residence. Nor does spring.

the big city

Can you recognize the new addition to downtown Thomasville?

winter's last supper?

It's supposed to snow tomorrow in the Iron City, but, willynilly, fever and all, I am heading west into the lunar eclipse over a blood moon. I did not bring my winter coat, as I never want to see it again, so the weather better freaking shape up! Enjoy your Seder bitter herbs, your Easter Dinners, your Chocolate Bunnies and other festivities, I am heading into the wilderness after, rather than for, Lent, living my life, as per usual, ass backwards.

pitt stop

 The ravages of an unexpected spring cold in the head (as well as the unexpected spring cold in the ambient air) encouraged me to pause in the Iron City to recuperate. I find old mill towns very exciting (see, Woonsocket, Providence) and am happy to have etched up in one of the prime examples of steel mill rehab in the nation. Home to about 300,000 souls, amazing building stock and river views, Pittsburgh, Pa., has become a hipster haven. Colleges and medical centers and museums coexist with the signage of the past.

on the road again

Spring is in the air, and I am more than ready to get out of town. I have the spring cold to go with the spring fever, but the truck is loaded and I am headed south and west. The water is on at the Goose, and all that needs doing is cleaning up the spiders. For now.