It's getting cooler!!!!!!

A dear friend . . .

I have a dear friend who has a very special day today!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,  FRANCIS!!!!!

We are all flapping our wings for you! and switching our tails! Tonight some goose friends will do a "fly over"--hope you can hear them! Listen hard! 

It is getting cooler! The leaves have just a touch of color . . . I don't think they will be glorious this year because of the summer drought. But is it important to be "glorious"? . . . I guess if you are a leaf and this is your only chance, it might be. But a drab brown leaf can be beautiful inside and do wonderful things. I love to kick dry fall leaves and make paths. I am wondering if the Man With The Long Blue Apron will set out pumpkins to roll and play ball with and then EAT!

I admit I am feeling a bit of melancholy--winter is coming and it is always hard for us on the riverbank. By spring we will all be different, at least those who survive the cold and hunger. Some of us will feel a bit more stiff and old. Predators have been perusing the area even now, it is always hard. Miss Sophie Goose was attacked two weeks ago--she was a bloody mess. She could barely hold her head up but at least made it to the corn pile where the Man With The Long Blue Apron gathered her bloodied battered body in his arms and carried her into the mill. He bathed her wounds, stroked her, applied antiseptic, and wiped her tears. She got warm cracked corn for several days, we all fussed over her. So you can see fall is a bit solemn, a time to reflect and be thankful for the summer abundance and for all our friends, and to hold hope and faith in our hearts.

Until next time . . .

A Serious Cloud Came By . . .

. . . and we needed its visit. It was not the kind that drifts, or sleeps, or puffs itself up. I am thankful for its soft misty gift. It has been very dry, making foraging for worms a challenge for all of us. Even Lewis Trout has been disappointed by too few flies.

     The moss has been resting patiently through the drought. What pleasure to wiggle my toes in soft moist thick moss. Moss can manage on a little night time dew. The precious little waterbear that live  in the moss have been forced to pull in their tiny arms and legs to survive. Sometimes it is a great advantage in being very small. They are among the tiniest voices in the moss.

   

   Gizmo has been gathering moss for carpeting his floors, walls, and for insulation. He says he is preparing early for winter. When spring comes he will bring it back out to once again grow.

   Gizmo is hoping to find a friend to spend the winter with him. I don't know, he is a bit of a "flea bag". Lately he has been taking dinner with Miss Clovis at sunset. It was going pretty well until SHE got HIS fleas! It was terrible for a beautiful brown rabbit to be crawling with fleas. Gizmo said they were not his fleas that  a band of rats had been through leaving fleas everywhere. I wish they would go south!! They said it's a drought and they will go where the corn is---HERE!!!!! no-no-no!!!!!!

So, with help from Miss Prunella, and my flock we rolled Miss Clovis through the mint patch, through the thyme, into the veronica, passed the water cress and into the creek where Cecil  pulled her by her tail to and fro through the rapid current and finally to shore. She is now a fresh sweet bunny ready for a sun bath and a full stamping with my feet to massage her back. No more fleas, and no more visits with Gizmo. I think he likes fleas.

Until next time . . .