Well, here it is another day in another week in a very unpredictable type of month being our first month of fall, or autumn if you prefer.  I prefer ‘fall’ myself since that is what happens this time of year.  Leaves fall.  Trees fall.  I fall.  And how.  Like the other day.  Taking out the garbage.  Which has become a rather dangerous chore for this character.  It always seems like something happens to make something relatively simple something amazingly difficult or dangerous or even sometimes hilarious which is not what happened this time although it might have seemed that way to anyone who might have witnessed the activity which fortunately no one did witness what happened which is a good thing since it probably would have elicited some rather hearty laughter and I can understand that when I stopped to think of how it really must have looked as I started down the steps with garbage can thumping on each step and then the final step which ends on the lawn which now has a rather large hole right at that location due to the much rain we have had this summer, and yes I know that is not exactly good grammar but then nothing in these ‘musings’ usually is and getting on with my little story here, when the wheel hit that hole in the ground the garbage can stopped rather abruptly sending the handle into my stomach which then caused the garbage can to turn over to the side dumping the blue box which was on top speeding its way to the ground and sending its contents in every direction with the garbage can right behind it kind of twisting its way down and me trying to stop all of this and I just kind of followed everything in a downward direction and landing on top of the garbage can and rolling over onto the ground and almost getting it rolling over me and of course there are rocks right there and a small drainage ditch for the water when it rains and all in all it was quite uncomfortable and to be quite honest it HURT!!  But thinking about what it must have looked like since all of this did not happen quickly and therefore it must have looked amazingly funny which did make me laugh quite a bit though that made it harder to get up on my feet again and…oh well, it’s over.  Fortunately.  Thanks to the many of you who inquired about little Muffin from last week and as you know she is back home safe and sound after her rather terrifying experience outdoors lost in the fog.  What a time that was.  But she is happy to be home and inside again.  She is not an outdoor cat, so this was not fun.  At least for me.  500 hundred new grey hairs over that one.  Sigh.  How did that happen you ask?  Simple.  A chipmunk managed to get inside when I tossed out a handful of peanuts.  Muffin was sleeping at the time.  Not for long.  The chase was on throughout the apartment.  I left the door open so hopefully the chipmunk could escape and I could stop Muffin before she got out.  Right.  I’m not sure where my brain was that morning.  Me, whose top speed is less than 1 mph trying to stop a cat moving at 50 mph.  It didn’t work obviously.  But prayer did.  And she was back by late afternoon.  Sigh.  Sometimes I think I’m getting old.  Sigh.  Oddly enough that chipmunk still comes for peanuts.  Obviously he didn’t learn anything.  Or he figures that peanuts are worth the danger of becoming cat food.  Almost as bad as the squirrel awhile back that was sitting on the edge of the bird bath, on the deep end, with his head totally submerged.  He’s trying to drown himself!  NO! Stop little squirrel!  Things can’t be that bad!  Then he pops up his little head holding part of a peanut.  Chuck, the crow, likes to sit on the edge of the bird bath at that spot and break open peanuts, when he manages to get one.  Guess he dropped a piece and decided it wasn’t worth diving for it.  But the squirrel figured it was worth the effort.  Strange critters around here.  But that fits me I guess.  People ask me how I get such strange names for my critters.  From my brain of course.  Where else would I arrive at strange names.  Shouldn’t be hard to figure that one out.  Sigh.  I know.  I was supposed to continue that saga with dad and I.  But it was too cold today to talk about a hot day, even though there is some similarities.  Next week.  It was only 51F today.  Just a few days ago it was 81F, a much nicer temp.  This is just too cold.  Even for this time of year.  And now it is raining.  Supposed to get a lot of rain tonight.  And thunderstorms.  Which is also amazing considering it is so cold.  Sigh.  Summer is definitely finished.  Sigh.  I hope some of you are experiencing better weather where you live.  But no matter what the weather, try to enjoy your fall weekend and God bless!

Steve.  And Muffin. And critters.

It is another very cool, foggy, fall morning and I mean it is cool as the temp only reached 61F, or 16.2C for those who prefer the archaic and very inaccurate method of measuring temperature, yesterday and this morning the fog was very heavy indeed making it hard to even see across the street at times but then for me it is hard to see across the street at any time since my apartment is at the back of the house so I can’t actually see the street at the best of times but when I went outside this morning I checked to see what it was like which is how I know what it was like because I wanted to see what it was like and that was the only way to see what it was like and that’s how I know but now the sun is trying hard to burn off that fog though there is still a bit and it is still very cool but it is supposed to warm up by the weekend which would be nice since the last two mornings my heater has come on because it has gotten so cold in here and it is a terrible thing that the heater is coming on already but that’s the way it goes sometimes and that is certainly the way it went this time and yes, I know, I am supposed to finish my story of dad and I on our hike through the bush in search of the elusive insulators and it was much different weather that day since it was sunny and very warm which it certainly is not going to be today but hopefully it will be warmer than the last two days and, okay, back to the story.  We were pushing our way through all that thick brush and finally we came to an area of pines with no undergrowth problems so it was easy going for a bit.  Then we came to a bit of a hill.  We were at the top. Dad looked down.  Long ways down, he said.  At least it’s downhill, I said.  Uphill on the way back, said dad.  Minor detail, I said, we’ll rest before coming back up.  Hey, I can hear a train, I said, we’re on the right path.  Path, questioned dad?  That train is not exactly close, he continued.  Minor detail, I said.  That looks like an easy way down, I said.  Right, said dad.  It really wasn’t too bad.  Sort of.  Dad wanted me to go first.  Naturally.  Down I started.  Watch that loose rock, I called back to dad.  What hawk, said dad.  Not hawk, ROCK, I yelled.  Too late.  Dad found the loose rock and AAAAAAAAAAAAAA, as he slid past me.  Slow down, I called out, or you’ll crash into those…too late.  There was a loud crunching noise as he came to a stop in a thick bunch of bushes.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, he called again.  Stop, he said, my glasses fell off!  I went carefully and found them, almost stepped on them.  Poor dad.  He wasn’t having a good day so far.  I helped him out of the bushes.  Wow, you sure flattened those bushes, I commented trying hard to contain laughing.  BONEHEAD, said dad.  Amazing that he would be enjoying this.  What happened to your hat?  Down there, he said.  Not sure how it managed to get so far ahead of him.  The rest of the way down wasn’t so bad.  But we were back into thick bush again.  Naturally dad sent me first.  We came to a small creek, which was very hard to see and I almost stepped into it.  Hey, a nice log across the creek, I said.  Try it out, said dad.  Naturally.  Half way across I jumped on the log to test its strength.  No problem, I said.  Dad’s turn.  As he stepped off the log on the other side his foot slipped and he ended up sitting on the log.  However, since he was heavier than me that fall was too much for the old log and down went dad, but he did miss the water.  Not quite sure how he missed it, but he did.  Help me up, he said.  I got a stick for him to grab.  The stick broke.  And dad went backward.  Wow, what a splash!  And there wasn’t even much water in that creek.  Here, try again, I said.  BONEHEAD!  I’m better off doing it myself, he said.  Fine. He did get out.  After slipping around in the water and mud.  You’re a mess, I said. Dad just looked at me.  Odd.  Good thing it is such a warm day, I said.  Right, said dad.  Not much farther now, I said.  Right, said dad.  That’s all for now.  Muffin is gone…and I’m finished. Sigh.  It has been a hard morning.  I hope you can all enjoy the remainder of your week.  God bless.

Steve. And no Muffin.