Good morning everyone!  Notice how short that is?  That’s for those of you who prefer the short opening sentence.  It’s hard to do.  I want to just keep going.  Sigh.  Sorry I missed last week.  Technical difficulties.  Me.  Plus I had company.  But I survived.  I think.  I have never had my picture taken so much in my life.  I saw some of the pics.  And people wonder why I don’t like having my picture taken.  It’s scary.  Even worse than looking in a mirror.  Why do some cameras have to flash twice?  Why?  The first flash blinds me.  So I close my eyes.  The second flash is when the pic is taken.  Of course my eyes are closed.  People complain my eyes are always closed.  It’s the crazy camera!!  Sigh.  It’s been an odd day.  Or at least the afternoon.  But it started this morning.  I think. Hard to tell.  Meaning I can’t quite remember if it was this morning that it started this afternoon or if it really was this afternoon starting this morning after it was afternoon even though it started before noon meaning that it must have started this morning before it was afternoon unless it really did start this afternoon by starting this morning before afternoon when actually it wasn’t before noon since it was already afternoon starting before noon when it was still morning when it started to be an odd type of day and it really was an odd type of day which I even felt it to be and so did others even though those others were animal others but it was noticed by other people who noticed the animals who noticed it was a rather odd type of day.  I think.  But it was odd.  Can’t really explain it.  Like something was happening when it wasn’t.  Make sense?  No?  Sigh. Anyway, I first noticed my little chipmunk friends were not acting normal.  Chester, Skamper and Rusty were acting strange.

That started this morning.  They were very nervous.  Didn’t want to stay around very long.  At the beginning they didn’t even want to come close to me.  That’s very strange since they are usually crawling all over me.  And always very excited to see me.  Even Sir George and friends starting acting this way this afternoon, though normal in the morning.  And Muffin was acting odd.  Also very nervous this afternoon.  Even seemed scared at times.  Yet it was a nice day, as far as weather was concerned.  Only difference is a lot of smoke in the air from forest fires again.  But that doesn’t bother Muffin or the other critters.  At least it never has before. And my landlord said her cat was also acting odd this afternoon.  Didn’t want to go out. Even hid for a time while inside.  Also acted nervous.  Like something was happening that wasn’t.  Must admit, I felt somewhat nervous myself last night, couldn’t figure out why.  But that was last night.  Still, Muffin acted nervous last night too, now that I think about it.  Very odd day.  Went shopping this morning.  Kept dropping things.  Why do they put things on such high shelves?  Why?  They always say, ask for help.  Ask who? They don’t have enough staff.  So there is never anyone around to ask.  Did find someone to ask in one department.  Do you have this item?  Yes, was the answer, right over here.  Oh, it isn’t here.  We do have it though she assured me.  That’s nice.  Doesn’t really help, but it’s nice.  She finally did find it for me.  Which was nice.  Not like one lady who just said, I think it’s over in that aisle, as she pointed it out.  Didn’t find it anywhere in the area she pointed to.  Sigh.  But that happens.  To me anyway.  I find it amazing that so many people have just normal shopping experiences.  Must be dull.  Hmm, it’s getting quite dark.  Maybe a thunderstorm is coming.  Though Muffin doesn’t seem to think so. Something else odd for today.  Oh well.  I hope you all can enjoy your week and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

Good morning to everyone on this beautiful sunny and warm July day and it is truly one of those days that is just beautiful and kind of a lazy type of day when you want to sit by the lake and enjoy the light breeze under the shade of some pine trees and looking at that sparkling blue water listening to all the sounds of summer such as the song sparrow singing joyfully from a small bush by the waters edge and the cry of the gulls flying overhead and of course the ever mournful call of the loon from some distant part of the lake then breaking out in their own way of laughing back and forth and it really does sound like that sometimes and then a family of ducks come along close to shore with the mother in the lead and nearly a dozen little ducklings following single file bobbing up and down in the small waves while a robin sits high in the pines singing his cheery tune and a family of chipping sparrows come flying in with the young ones constantly chasing the parents crying out for their next meal and they are continually rewarded with an assortment of bugs and seeds found amazingly quickly by the parents while I am trying hard to get a nice photo of these young chipping sparrows and they are not cooperating at all just flitting about here and there too fast for me to capture that perfect pic though I was able to at least get one of the likely tired parents but even that was not easy as these little birds do not sit in one place for very long and I don’t know if you have guessed it yet or not but I am not sitting by a lake but rather out on my little deck but thinking back of other times when I did indeed sit by a lake and watch all these happenings and now I am back indoors after a little break here in order to stop a little argument between two of my squirrel visitors one of which is friendly and comes readily to me for a peanut and the other is not so friendly though she will eventually find her way over to me and quickly grab a peanut from my fingers and of course there was also one of the baby squirrels and I am not sure which one of these adults was his mother but he would not come to get a peanut though he did come fairly close at one point and as for points I have not seen Whitey at all today which is odd since he is usually one of the first squirrels to show up in the morning but this morning it was Chipper that was first and she was here at 5 am which is early for her and the chipmunks arrived shortly after looking for their share of the peanuts but Sir George is always the first critter to show up and this morning was no different as he was here at 4:50 am and fortunately I was already up and got some food ready for him and his mate Lady Pearl and when they both land on the feeder together they kind of fill it up but they don’t seem to mind at all and right now Skamper and Chester are here for their evening fill of peanuts though they don’t normally make too many trips in the evening and both of these chipmunks have a long journey to make back to their respective homes and then back again for more peanuts and it amazes me that they even found out about the food here considering they live so far away not like Rusty who lives close by and he can usually make 3 trips to one for the others but he doesn’t usually show up in the evening for some reason but I guess they all have their own schedule and they stick to it and speaking of schedules Sir George just called looking for his evening snack and he certainly came down quickly so guess he must have been hungry and now Muffin is looking for her evening snack and feeding all these little friends of mine is starting to make me hungry so guess I better get myself a snack as well.  Sigh.  But it really was a beautiful day.  Except for maybe one little thing…but anyway we will leave that one for now.  Sigh.  I hope you all enjoy your week and God bless!

Steve and Muffin and critters.