Terror of the interface

 

The horse eating lawn grass last week I can handle, especially since it was just one horse instead of last spring's five or six.

The gray squirrel on the back deck was cute, until Charley the Cat spotted it and spent 30 minutes looking and looking and looking, waiting for it to come back. Charley even dashed the length of the house to look out the other window that faces the back yard. Squirrel's a tease.

Raccoons under the house, again, Sunday, 2 a.m. I have no idea what they're breaking but it can't be good. Landlord put up a board to block the hole last spring. It lasted about 60 days. Weather went cold. They're back.

Spider webs strung between bushes, auto bumpers, porch steps. Three-inch spider hanging from a line outside the sliding glass door, swinging in the wind.

So far, standard examples of the urban-rural interface east of Reno, NV.

Until a three-inch-long greenish-brown caterpillar appeared on the back deck two days in a row. Charley the Cat was fascinated. Until the bug changed direction to head straight for the window. Then Charley laid down skid marks taking off for his hiding place.

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My dyscalculia still lets me count to 1

 

OK ... I must be stupid, again. Got a "survey" from a novelist regarding a new book coming out, funded initially via Kickstarter. Much satisfied with last March's similar campaign, I kicked in $5.

Please answer all the questions, survey said. I did.

After "submit" a message came back saying answer all questions.

There was one question. 1. Only 1. Just 1. Not 2. Not 0. 1.

Went around the circle three times. Still only one question. Still the demand for answers to all the questions.

Perfect illustration of my current philosophy: I'm too old for this shit.

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World upside down

 

Gun-loving Republicans cheer as a Democrat is indicted for buying a gun!

First time ever they want a gun-buyer punished.

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Variety is the spice of my attention span

 

Hey, cable TV news channels! Want to get your viewers' numbers back up?

Try having different news on in the morning than what was on all day yesterday.

Aug. 3, for example, everybody covered Donnie all day and all evening. Today, the 9 a.m. shows are still chewing 45's cud. Seeking news online is annoying, but subjects vary.

Other things are happening around the USA as well as Planet Earth. Tell me about them.

Notice how the half-hour evening news shows touch on more than one topic? 

Jeeze, I miss the original HLN ... Headline News.

Yeah, I'm old. And don't need 45's comeuppance re-litigated more than once per news cycle.

And put the names of your panelists on the screen always. I also change the channel when faced with four unfamiliar faces in a stack, no matter how interesting the subject.

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For the record

 

It's finally cool enough outside to think, again, but I have nothing to say.

Couple of weeks ago, my brain checked out when the AC went down. The greatest man on Earth, Steve Dow, got it up and running inside 30 minutes after I screwed around for a day before calling him.

Clipped overgrown rose bush branches yesterday in heat of only 92F. Still bloody hot.

I hate rose bushes but the explanation would be longer than "War and Peace," so never mind.

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Firepoint extinguished

 

The Great Gizmo has left the building. And the world. And life.

This Firepoint Siamese was 21 or 22 years old, failing, and went out his way: at home, at peace.

Ranked in the Top 20 on the list of stubborn, opinionated, and persistent felines. Relentless to the point of mayhem when he wanted the walking can opener out of "his" chair.

This photo's 10 years old, but he still zonked out on his back when he felt safe.

 

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Wasting our time

 

Of all the penny ante crimes DJT commits, the first he gets indicted on is hush money to a woman he had sex with?

Half of the American men his age don't consider it even a crime. It's the cost of doing business.

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Pathos

 

Subset of pathetic humanity: People who post comments on comic strips.

Hey, idjits, even if you have a speck of humor, you're still not funny. 

The artists/writers are funny. That's their job.

Go shovel snow or something useful.

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Horsing around

 

Or so the cliche goes. This creature, sporting off-white mane and tail, paused to nibble grass through the snow in my front yard Jan. 21. Dining companion was brown with black mane and tail. They left deposits that were quickly covered by the night's snow.

Snow's melting slowly but the horsey presents are visible again.

The urban-rural interface is a place of wonders. And massive annoyance.

 

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