It is hard to believe it has been a week already.  The time just goes by so fast these days.  Soon it will be that other season I don’t like to talk about.  It’s coming fast.  Too fast.  I’m a summer person.  Not that I spend much time outside anymore.  I don’t.  But summer is still much nicer than that other season which is so long.  And cold.  Summer is nice and warm.  It’s nice to go outside without having to put on a jacket.  And it is so nice to go out on the deck early in the morning with a hot cup of COFFEE and enjoy the sights and sounds of summer.  Like the sun glimmering on the brilliant emerald leaves as they gently rustle in the morning breeze.  The cry of the loon on a distant lake or river.  A little phoebe calling endlessly in the bushes just a little way from my deck.  A robin singing joyfully from the top of a nearby spruce.  The call of gulls as they laugh back and forth to each other.  Sigh.  I miss my gulls.  Sir George has not been here since last Thursday.  Amazing.  Don’t know what happened.  We were getting along so well.  It would not have been long and he would have been eating from my hand.  Sigh.  It’s August.  Warm days and cool nights.  A nice time of year except it means that summer is nearly over, then it’s fall, and then…it’s over.  Fall, or autumn, if you prefer, is just so short.  Normally anyway.  Even now the leaves are starting to change, the yellow is beginning to show among the green.  Usually birch is first, but this year it is the maple.  We did have a short time without much rain, but today that changed.  It rained.  Started about 2am.  Stopped by early afternoon.  Or thereabout.  Really reminded me of fall today.  And that got me thinking of times that dad and I went out for insulatoring or bottle digging, or rock collecting.  Well, minerals mainly.  This is ideal country for rock and mineral collecting.  That’s what we have, plus lakes and trees.  Absolutely beautiful country.  Fall was a good time for our adventures, and that’s when most of them took place.  The amazing things that happened sometimes.  Many times we didn’t find much interesting, but the things that happened are what made the outings so memorable.  Like this one time we were trying to find a way in to the railway which was quite a distance from where we had to park the car and that meant hiking a bit through the forest, or bush, as we like to call it and this one time after checking the map thoroughly we figured we had the shortest route planned so it should only take maybe 15 minutes or so and then we would be at a new location which would be nice since the isolated area should produce some nice finds for the growing collection but of course things don’t always work out the way we planned sometimes or maybe I should say they seldom worked out the way we planned since there was always something that happened to turn an easy hike into a rather arduous trek that would nearly wear us out before we reached our destination and on this particular day that is exactly what happened but it started out a fabulous sunny and warm day in late August so we drove to the spot where we would begin this short and easy hike and that part of the day was easy but that is where easy stopped and problems began but we grabbed our back packs and started through the bush which was no easy matter since it was very thick brush all through that area and there was no way around it so we just started pushing our way through it and usual I was in the lead since I had planned this route on the map which unfortunately I had forgotten to bring with me and so this is where we are now.   You forgot the map?, asked dad.  Well, I did bring a map, but it’s the wrong one, I said.  BONEHEAD, said dad.  We just got started and already he is enjoying himself, I thought to myself.  I remember the way, however, I said, I studied that map a lot.  Right, said dad.  So off we went.  Watch the branches, I said.   Thwack!  AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!  Guess he didn’t.  Dad’s hat went flying and got stuck in a tree.  I can get it, I said.  I grabbed a branch and reached up.  Sure enough I got it quite easily and I swung the branch down with dad’s hat attached to it.  Thwack!  AAAAA!!!!  Oops.  Guess I swung too hard.  Got dad right across the side of his head.  But amazingly his glasses didn’t fall off.  Thanks, said dad.  Not sure he really meant that.  Oh well.  Dad still wanted me to go first, he just stayed well back.  Speaking of back.  I will be back next week as we continue this adventure.  This got too long again.  Sorry about that.  Don’t forget to tell people about these ‘musings’!  And notice they are now available in 50 or so different languages.  This is still a work in progress, I hope to keep making improvements along the way.  And I will be adding more pics soon!  Muffin is sleeping.  Again.  These rainy days are good for that.  Think I will join her.  Enjoy the remainder of your week and God bless!

Steve. And Muffin.

It is an absolutely beautiful August day, the sun is shining brilliantly providing a nice penetrating warmth without being overly hot, a nice gentle breeze causing the leaves to whisper quietly, just one of those fantastic summer days!  I hope you are able to get out and enjoy some of the splendor of summer before it disappears.  The birds are especially active today, chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches, rock doves and, of course, the ever present grackles and crows, and last but not least, Sir George, which you all know is a herring gull.  They are big birds.  Very big.  Especially when he is sitting on my little bird feeder.  And they are such a brilliant white, plus a bit of grey and black, with his bright yellow bill sporting a brilliant red spot.  They are a beautiful bird really, but many people just don’t seem to appreciate them.  Garbage birds, they say, and, too noisy.  They can be noisy, but it is such a welcome noise to me as it means summer!  It is always a thrill to see or hear them back in the spring.  Sigh.  It won’t be long and they will be leaving once again.  Though some do stay until November, most of the adults are gone by mid October.  That’s just 2 months.  Sigh.  Sir George is getting quite tame, I have been able to approach to within 3 feet of him, not bad for such a wary bird.  My aim is to get him to eat out of my hand.  Or at least off the plate I am holding.  Then to try and get a picture of that, which won’t be easy.  Sigh.  It is so nice to sit at my desk and gaze out the window at the picturesque lake, so calm in the early morning light, just a few ripples made by the loons and gulls, and a beaver quietly swimming past close to shore heading back to his lodge after a night of cutting trees, getting ready for the coming winter.  The loons mournful cry breaks the solitude of the moment, though for me that cry is more of a loud laughter of joy and praise to his Creator.  One after another many birds begin waking and soon a chorus of different songs fill the air.  And that air is so clear and clean it makes one invariably take a deep breath to enjoy it to the full.  A beautiful moment, and a beautiful memory.  Unfortunately there is no lake outside my window now, but there are lush trees of many varieties just past my little deck, a nice quiet spot to enjoy a morning cup of COFFEE!  And, of course, say hi to my many little visitors, Chipper, Cheeky and Stubby, the 3 chipmunks, Nosey, my squirrel, and the birds.  Last night there was a fox around, he barked steadily for 20 minutes, very loudly.  Woke me up.  Woke up Muffin as well, though I am sure she enjoyed having something different for a change.  To watch, that is.  However, this started just after 3am, a little too early even for me.  But I was very much awake by the time that little fox stopped.  He must have been pretending to be a rooster.  Or something.  Sigh.  So I am a bit tired now.  But it is too early to head to bed.  Yes, it is evening.  Muffin is sleeping, but if I went to bed now I would be up at 3 again.  Not a good idea.  Sigh.  Speaking of technology.  Why is it only me that has problems?  Sigh.  At least my computer is working again.  Except it won’t talk to me anymore.  She says she can’t hear me.  Right.  Just doesn’t want to.  Sigh.  Now my tablet is giving me trouble.  Turned it on yesterday and nothing wanted to work.  Not even factory installed items.  Discovered it was in something called safe mode.  So what’s with that?  How did that happen?  And I couldn’t undo it.  Fortunately my tablet was still talking to me, one of the few things that did work.  So it told me what to do.  Odd.  Now it works.  Sort of.  Wants to freeze up all the time now.  And overheat.  Sigh.  It’s enough to make me jump up and down, pull my hair, bang my head against the wall, roll on the floor (what do you expect after banging my head on the wall), and, and, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! It’s okay.  I’m fine.  I’m calm.  Sigh.  Had to phone some place the other day.  I hate doing such a thing now.  Nothing but machines telling me to press 1 for this, 2 for that…and so on.  But I did it anyway.  Nothing on that initial list fit what I wanted to do.  So I picked the closest one.  On to the next level.  Did the same thing.  Next level.  Same thing.  On the sixth level it finally had press 4 to talk to the operator.  GREAT!  Right.  Got the operator.  Sort of.  All operators were busy.  So I was put on hold.  What they mean to say is, they only have one operator who is presently talking to a friend.  Sigh.  Anyway, after only 8 minutes I got to talk with the operator!  Who told me I was in the wrong department and to go back to the original menu and press 2.  And then…that’s when I hung up.  Okay, so I’m a terrible person.  Sometimes I hate machines.  Sigh.  Mostly they hate me. Oops.  I was supposed to finish the insulatoring story.  Sorry.  Next time.  Maybe.  Who knows?  Anything can happen with me.  And usually does.  Sigh.  I hope you enjoy your weekend, and God bless!

Steve.  And Muffin.  And critters.