Good morning everyone out there providing you are reading this otherwise I can’t say good morning if you are not reading this and I really hope that you are reading this otherwise…hmm, there goes my opening sentence.  Sigh.  Lost track of what I wasn’t saying before I had a chance to not say it so therefore I won’t bother trying to remember what it was I was going to say since it likely wasn’t important anyway.  Sigh.  It’s fall.  Or autumn, if you prefer.  There is definitely a coolness in the air even though the days are warm and sunny.  But there is still a noticeable coolness.  Things are suddenly different than summer.  Of course there is the obvious.  The changing colors.  Birds are heading south.  Other birds are coming in to replace them.  The blue jays are busy now.  And noisy.  And looking for food.  Always looking for food.  But they can be good to have around.  If any danger enters the area, such as a hawk, they let everyone know.  And everyone takes heed.  Heading to the nearest place of safety.  Which for Sylvester, one of my chipmunks, meant cuddling in as close to me as he could, hiding in close to my right arm and behind my left hand.  Shaking a bit.  But he knew he was safe.  And yet, just nine days previous he wouldn’t even come close to me.  Now it’s like we have been friends all summer.  Summer.  Sigh.  It is so short.  And gone.  It is fall.  It is pleasantly warm.  But the hot days of summer are gone.  Muffin likes it much better.  She is an odd type.  She loves to lay in the sun, soaking up that heat.  But she doesn’t like heat.  Amazing.  There is another new chipmunk in the group now.  His name is Checker.  Mainly because I was thinking of checkers at the time.  The game of checkers.  Anyway, for a couple of weeks Checker was around but wouldn’t come near me.  Much like Sylvester.  But this past Friday he finally came and took a peanut from me.  Now it’s Tuesday and he crawls all over me just like the rest of them.  Didn’t take long.  Amazing what you can do with peanuts.  Everyone loves peanuts.  I go through a lot of peanuts.  But what can I do?  From small to large, everyone eats peanuts.  Like Theodore here.

And you didn’t think they ate peanuts, did you?  How am I supposed to say no?  Sigh.  That’s a real pic by the way.  Except for the word peanuts.  Amazing what shows up in my back yard.  Okay.  Maybe not him.  But there was a couple of black bears this summer.  One was about 400 pounds.  And yes, they will eat peanuts.  And most anything else.  Which is why I really would prefer they didn’t come around.  Muffin agrees.  She does not like bears.  One was on my deck last night.  I think it might have been a different one again.  Sigh.  Speaking of peanuts.  The other day Rusty was on my lap getting some peanuts from me when one of the rock doves decided to let loose and poop on my arm with a great big wet one.  It splattered.  Naturally.  Made me groan rather loudly and move my arm rather quickly.  That, of course, scared poor Rusty.  And he took off as quick as he could.  And peed all over my leg.  For such a little critter he sure has a big bladder.  That made me groan a bit more.  I was sitting on the steps at the time.  So I put my hand down to give myself a little push to get up.  Another groan.  My hand landed in more fresh bird poop.  Sigh.  How do things like this always happen to me?  How?  Things never happen to anyone else.  Or at least they don’t admit it.  Sigh.  Like the other night heading off to the bathroom.  In the dark.  And I walk through a spider web.  Another night I went to drink some water, I always keep a glass of water handy,  and there was a spider web over the top of the glass!  That was not at all nice.  It’s enough to make a person jump up and down, pull their hair (which is getting harder to do), bang their head against the wall, fall on the floor (what do you expect after banging your head on the wall?), and, and…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It’s okay.  I’m calm.  I’m fine.  Sigh.  Fall can be nice.  Those beautiful colors.  It’s what comes after it that takes all the fun from fall.  The first winter forecast issued says we will have a long, very cold, and snowy winter.  In other words, normal.  Sigh.  Oh well.  I hope you all enjoy your week, and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

Good morning to everyone of my readers!  Or whatever time of day it is where you live.  To me it’s still morning.  No matter what time of day.  Which, of course, you already know.  Unless, of course, you have not been reading these posts for very long.  For those of you in that position, I am a morning person.  I like morning.  Best time of day.  Even if you don’t like mornings.  Still the best time of day.  Try it for a while.  You just might start to enjoy it.  Or not.  Sigh.  As you know, some of my chipmunks have come back.  That’s because LB (short for nasty little squirrel) doesn’t come around much anymore.  So that is nice.  Plus, a new little chipmunk has arrived.  Obviously a young one from this year now on his own.  He was very much afraid of me for a while.  Then on Friday as I was sitting on the steps feeding the other chipmunks the new one showed up on the steps, spotted me and took off.  But he came back.  He wanted to get past me to go to the step by the door where he has obviously found peanuts before.  Finally he ran past.  He found no peanuts.  So I put one on the top step.  He ran past me again.  Then stopped.  Turned and went over to the peanut, grabbed it, and took off as fast as he could.  This happened four times.  Then I held the peanut.  He stopped.  Came over cautiously.  He sniffed my hand quite a bit, then took the peanut and took off.  But he kept coming back.  Today is Monday.  He is now coming up on my lap to get the peanuts just like the others, no longer afraid.  Not bad.  Speaking of odd things.  I was just cleaning up a bit today when the left side of my neck got stiff.  That was odd.  Only the left side of my neck.  Odd indeed.  But then, odd things are always happening to me.  Speaking of stuff.  And that really would take awhile.  Especially since I have so much stuff.  And I mean a lot of stuff.  Stuff that I don’t even know I have.  Stuff that I know I have but can’t find.  Due to so much stuff getting in the way of other stuff so that when I go looking for stuff then stuff gets in the way and I can’t find the stuff I want to find because it is hidden by the stuff I don’t want to find when I look for the stuff that I do want to find and it’s enough to make me pull my hair, bang my head against the wall, jump up and down, trip over stuff, fall down and, and…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It’s okay.  I’m calm. I’m fine.  Sigh.  How do I get so much stuff?  Now I’m not talking about normal every day useful kind of stuff.  Just stuff.  It might be useful some day kind of stuff.  But it never is.  Useful I mean.  It just sits around taking up space.  But it might be useful some day I say.  But it never is.  Months go by.  Years go by.  But I might need it some day.  I never do.  It just sits around taking up space.  But if I throw it out then I will need it the very next day.  Or week.  Or month.  Or year.  But I never do need it.  It just sits around taking up space.  Some of this stuff I only see when I move.  Admittedly I do move a lot.  So I see it a lot.  I pack it.  I unpack it.  Then it sits around taking up space.  Until I move again.  Then I pack it again.  And unpack it again.  It’s enough to make me pull my hair, bang my head against the wall, jump up and down, roll on the floor and, and…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It’s okay.  I’m calm.  I’m fine.  Sigh.  That’s enough.  Stuff I mean.  Now I am getting rid of all this ‘useful’ stuff that never is useful even though I ‘might need’ it some day but I know I never will because I never do so now it is going OUT!  Gone.  No more.  Mind you, it might take a while.  There is a lot of stuff.  Sigh.  One time in a hundred I might actually use some of this stuff.  And it won’t be there.  Fine.  Then I will go out and get more.  But at least it won’t be sitting around taking up space for the next ten years waiting for that one in a hundred possibilities that I might use that stuff and I know I WON’T.  Sigh.  Stuff.  And more stuff.  It’s going to be gone.  Speaking of fall.  It feels like fall today.  Cool, only 57F.  Or 14C for those who prefer the archaic method.  Leaves are turning yellow.  Whole trees of leaves.  Lots of leaves on the ground after that big storm last night.  Birds flocking.  Many have already headed south.  Sigh.  That cold season is coming.  Oh well.  I hope you all enjoy your week and God bless!

Steve and Muffin and Chipmunks.