I always enjoy other peoples' this 'n that posts, so I guess I owe you one.



The poor quality of this picture is because it's of the television screen, a documentary about the cowboy way of life, filmed in Idaho. It's a bit hard to see, but two men on horses are in the water and the cow dog is over to the right.

This scene was at the end and I wanted to capture it. Composition-wise it reminds me of some of Jondude's paintings, particularly with the mountains in the distance and the bushes along the riverbank. To me, it speaks of contentment with a simpler life, and the quiet beauty of nature. Also, because it was getting into the fall of the year, it signifies the end of something and the beginning of something at the same time.



This second one is a little further along, and you can see their reflections on the water.

Starve-a-Cat

Buddy the Cat is on strike. He didn't eat anything overnight, and I tried it all, including baby food. We can tell he's hungry, but he won't eat.



See those bits of pretzels and graham cracker on the counter? Yesterday he begged for those and then didn't want them.

This morning, I got him to drink some tuna water and eat the baby food stirred into it (he doesn't like the tuna meat). Then, after not being able to tempt him with his usual favorite canned food, I opened a can of his usually least-favorite - Ocean Whitefish - and he actually ate a little bit of that. Maybe now that he's gotten something in his stomach he'll get his appetite back.

Visiting the Fox

I'm getting ready to fly to Colorado on Friday for a visit to my house there.

We have a new accountant and I decided I should meet with her in person to go through the taxes.

Of course the big question is whether I will see the fox.




Afternoon With a Friend

I will also be visiting with a friend of mine who has a very eventful life due to the needs of her troubled/troublesome family. One good thing is none of them are criminals (so far). She drives a big old Chevy Suburban, maintained by a shade-tree mechanic, and the muffler is really loud. During the summer I'll be sweeping the back patio and hear this rumble, look up, and there is the Land Barge laboring across my bridge - my friend has escaped her responsibilities for a couple of hours.

We have a cup of tea and I listen to whatever is on her mind, and then we go sit on the bridge and look for fish and I listen some more. Then, I'll round up some sandwiches or home-made soup and listen some more. When I'm not there, she gets caught up in things and doesn't email what's going on. I don't blame her - putting stuff like that in writing just reinforces the aggravation. Sometimes she emails that she's going to call me the next day, but she never does, probably something came up and she forgot. It's okay by me because I don't like talking on the phone very much, especially cell phones.

So I decided getting to see her in person for some tea and listening would be just the thing to give her a boost. There is a Mexican restaurant we have been talking about going to, and maybe we'll get around to it this time. Their food is different from the usual in that area, and I can't decide if it's so awful I can't stop eating it, or it is a unique savory experience worthy of craving to get back to.

We might also work in a visit to the Mt. Everest Cafe, owned and run by Tibetans. The food is similar to Indian food, but not as spicy hot. It's served buffet style so we can get little tastes first to figure out what we want more of.

Mr. Troutbend

I know you want to know what 'he' is going to do for the four or five weeks I'm gone. He will do just exactly what he does when I'm here - bowling, gambling, eating at the casino buffet on points, holding the cat on his lap, and sitting out in the sun. I bought a nice laptop for him last year and he spends a lot of time on it.

Now, mind you, this man is not one of those characters in love with the sound of his own voice. He does not yap along about himself or his opinions or trivia, he doles out words sparingly; on cross country car trips he utters not a word for hundreds of miles. Therefore, once he does start talking, I consider it worth listening to, and I am usually surprised at what he has to say.

The other night he told me how fast the earth rotates - 1000 miles per hour at the equator (the exact speed depends on your latitude). And I asked him if it's moving so fast, how come my hair isn't sticking straight out in the breeze. And he said because we are in the vacuum of space.

It'll be months before we have another conversation, even if I stayed here waiting for it.

Cooking

We have been working our way through a ten pound bag of yellow onions. Fortunately, the yellow variety is more nutritious - Vitamin C and antioxidants - than the milder, white types. Mr. Troutbend brought them home because he didn't see the smaller sacks. Now that he figured out they are good for us, he feels vindicated. It's a challenge, but so far I haven't resorted to deep frying.

I need to get through them by Thursday night because he won't do any cooking while I'm gone and they will go bad; they are already thinking about it. I might end up packing the last one in my suitcase to use in Colorado. I would put it in a Ziploc so my suitcase won't end up aromatic. Looking at our supply of sweet potatoes, I'm probably going to be packing one or two of those, too.

Brain Pills

It could be the placebo effect, but I think this phosphotidylserine supplement is really helping my short-term memory quite a bit. The cousin who told me about it was the mother of the bride at that wedding I went to in Laredo, Texas, so I'm glad I went even if it hadn't turned out to be the best wedding ever (because of the parade around the plaza).

She called the other day to ask what my dad's second wife's name was because they want to pray for her soul (she died in 2002 in the same plane crash as my dad). I didn't ask why they want to pray for Phyllis at this late date, it's not as if she needs it since she was just somebody's sweet old granny, not some marginal sinner lurking in Purgatory, pining to pass through the gates of heaven. To be honest, I didn't like her very well, but didn't make an issue of it because she was good company for my dad, and she died at the same time as he did, so we didn't have to deal with her as his widow.

Starve-A-Cat Update:

He just now moseyed in from the living room and started eating a little out each of those four dishes of cat food in turn. I guess he broke through whatever barrier he had built up, but he's still not up to his usual self.

Hope the rest of your day goes well.