Apparently, they do need defending. A couple of weeks ago, on the radio from Austin, a Texas tree specialist used that expression dismissively, as in cut ‘em down, get rid of them. They are eye sores, good for nothing, so do just that. That attitude was out of character for a preservationist. Just because they don’t all come from the
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It was one of the last nights of The Big Freeze, 16 January, 2018. Doing a new-normal walk-about to check for frozen pipes, WHAT WAS THAT? It couldn’t be! No one would believe it. I ran inside to get the camera to give credence to what my eyes witnessed. Not being gone more than a few seconds, OH NO! They
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[This article first appeared in 2004 when my daughter and I had a website together. I hope that new desktodirt readers will enjoy it, and that long-time followers will appreciate it as a classic. This piece will appear each year at Christmas and the holiday season.] Ah, the yearly ritual! The family would pack into the sedan and off we
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FINALLY! An image of a rabbit in flight is captured. It’s very tough to get a decent one, even with a camera at the ready; you can’t predict when the race will begin or where it will go. The cottontail is on the run after Ernie flushed him out from his hutch under a tangle of vines. And generally, the
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[A story from years ago that still has relevance today.] ***”I tell her ‘No,’ and add ‘men’s colognes and soaps are a real tough sell on me. They smell too much like products for women.’(Does that make me consistent or stubborn?) ” The closest I could possibly get to George Washington was to walk the grounds of and visit his
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An odd sort of radio commercial has recently been running on a.m. radio. It’s of the public-service variety. I’m not sure of the station since I listen a lot to country-wide iheart radio. The gist of it is that children can drive you crazy, even to wits end; have patience because that behavior is normal for offspring’s. I wonder if
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Well, it’s not as dramatic as Mrs. O’Leary’s cow who reportedly kicked over a lantern and started The Great Chicago Fire. It is a good quick read, however. So how did Princess wind up on my property despite the neighbor’s being fully fenced? As the sun set – if I hadn’t by chance looked out my window – I might
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Ernie sniffed him out. The snake, that is. It was a sun-rich, bye-bye to stormy weather day. Dog and I were inside my fenced, raised-bed garden cage. I was just finishing minor repairs when Ern became agitated: he wanted to be let out to follow his nose. It was pointing towards the neighbor’s fenced pasture twenty feet away. Dropping my
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It’s four a.m. and my creative spirit is at its height. I sit in my old Morris chair thinking, gently hitting the keyboard on my laptop. From the bed Ernie looks over as if to say, “Do you know what time it is?” Of course I do, and so does my brain. It has a mind of its own. What
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He is twenty-five pounds of muscle and skills that come from an unknown heritage. [Although that is about to change with a doggy DNA kit sitting just over there.] One of his favorite pastimes is sniffing out small animals. Principally, we’re talking about rabbits, the wild ones that hang out on your property and eat your garden clean. [They are
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