Happy Birthday Dad & Mom!

I found this photo of my parents yesterday. It made me cry to see how healthy they were back in the mid 70’s.

My dad would rarely crack a smile for the camera, so this photo is truly precious.

Dad actually smiling in photo!

Gaylord & Nita McGuire dressed as hillbilly’s for a Halloween party.
They were both born on October 19th.

The Sounds of Silence

Stacked firewood

Well… I’m still waiting.

At first I was patiently waiting. Then I was impatiently waiting. Now, I wear earplugs and curse a lot.

When you live where people have cabins, weekends are noisy. I don’t mind that. But it’s the Monday through Friday noise that’s disrupting my mind and soul. If it’s not chain-saws, it’s hammering, men talking (or yelling), cement pumpers, power tools and large trucks.  And that’s just today.

Some days (like today), when it gets really loud and goes on for an hour or more, I let Big Yellow loose. Might as well do housework, if I can’t think well enough to work on my novel. I swap out earplugs for iPod ear-buds and play soothing music to myself. Or hard-assed rock and roll, depending. Even with my ears full of music I can’t take a nap. Along with the headache, no nap makes me, shall we say “grumpy”?

And I hate it when the phone rings and it’s for hubby. This means I have to get my grubby shoes on, go out to the yard, or wherever he is, and wait for a pause in the saw, so I can get his attention and give him the handset.  You won’t hear any feminine voices singing out the window – “honey, the phone’s for you”.  He has very high quality earplugs that can block out everything, including wifely hollering.

There is a chance the autumn firewood cutting will stop this week. Then we should have enough stacked for the winter (please God, let 8 cords be enough!), and maybe, get some quiet around here. Until hubby and friend continue building shelves for the shop. Or whatever noise-making project they think up next.

Thank goodness NaNoWriMo does not begin until November.  I want to finish the draft of the dusty novel I started in 1991, before I get involved with another one.  Wish me luck on that idea  – Ha!
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photo credit: premasagar via photopin cc

Is 4,000 feet high enough?

Today’s news reported from The Pine Tree:

Lots of Critters Down Low….Mamma Bear and Cub Just Above San Andreas

Posted by: thepinetree on 08/27/2012 12:26 PM
Mountain Ranch, CA…We had a call this morning from a viewer that had a momma bear and her cub in his back yard on Michel Road between San Andreas and Mountain Ranch. There have been many, many mountain lion and now bear sightings at very low levels so be aware and don’t be surprised if you see mother nature up close and personal.

Yikes!  Just how close is “up close and personal?” Some of the local residents (like me) live 3 feet away from a forest. I suspect that would count as up close and personal. Especially when the forest is usually where they come from when they decide to go “down low”.

There goes my promise to start hiking every morning.  I’d rather not get my daily exercise running from mountain lions, bears or whatever Oh My! that comes down the mountain.

I keep feeling like I’m starring in one of those “B” movies about a small town getting into a panic about an impending doom. Like fire. Wild animals. What-not. I don’t dare ask “what happens next?”

I heard some weird howly, growly sounds last night. I whispered to hubby, “do you think that’s a bear?”

“It sounds like a Yeti to me,” he whispered back.

.Yeti Sighting
photo credit: JoshNV via photo pin cc