Laid Back Bunny

Just after I posted my "Glass Half Full" entry I walked outside to run an errand. There in front of me was a little bunny (the place is crawling with them this year) eating some corn I had put out. He startled a little bit, then lay down to munch on the corn and the grass. I've never seen a rabbit actually lay on his side (and I used to have one as a pet).

I couldn't believe he wasn't running, especially since I was talking to him the whole time. Could this be our newest entrant to the petting zoo?

He jumped off when I went back inside to get my camera, but stopped and looked back at me for this shot.

While I was out there, I took some pictures of my garden.

Is My Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

Work has been extremely stressful, and I'm snapping at Vice Presidents left and right (not recommended if you want to get ahead). On top of all of that, my house sitter has reported the following in the last week:

• My pond is losing water and the fish died
• My sprinkler system is leaking and flooding the side yard
• The air conditioner stopped working on the hottest day of the year (105 degrees)

So my pond lady will replace the fish and clean the pond. The fish were just cheap old goldfish, and they breed like crazy anyway.

The sprinkler guy came today and fixed the leak (for free I think), and my retired air conditioning guy came tonight after his regular job to fix the air conditioning. Instead of having to replace the compressor, he replaced a fuel capacitor (like I even know what that is). My good friend just had to replace her air conditioning to the tune of $10,000. My total bill? $172.00.

So at least for today, my glass is half full. I hope it doesn't have a leak in it too.

Perfect Weekend

What does a perfect weekend at the lake look like?

Friday night was spent around a campfire, meeting the neighbors and making S'mores. My niece Sarah came to visit, along with her 5-month old daughter and Sarah's friend. The sparklers left over from the 4th of July came out, much to the delight of the visiting kids.

We played on the 'Sandbar' all day Saturday. The Sandbar is a jutting piece of sand between Pelican and Fish Lake, where many boats beach themselves for the day. Lots of friends were there, and we all got a little bit sunburned. Everyone seems to bring their dog, and the dogs form a pack, roaming the sandbar, sniffing each other's butts, and retrieving play toys thrown into the water. The adult humans generally mill around, drink beer, have boat envy, and borrow the jet ski for a twirl. I don't have a jet ski, but one of my neighbors at the campground does, and he's very generous with it. His new one goes over 70 MPH.

An older guy came over to chat on the Sandbar, and one of my friends told him to try her homemade Pico de Gallo. Not to be outdone, I told him that my BLT dip was much better. We made him the judge between the Pico de Gallo, BLT Dip, and homemade Guacamole my sister-in-law made. He had to keep sampling because he couldn't make up his mind! His son is a chef, and he's going to give him our recipes. Dang it, his son will be here next weekend...and I won't. I'll be in Texas for a week.

Saturday night we had quite a spread - beef roast and pork loin cooked all day on the grill/smoker, cucumber salad, cabbage wrapped in side pork, cheesy potatoes, and rhubarb cake. Yum. And my niece Emily made her famous chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Tired out from the sun, I went to bed about 9:30, and stayed there for 12 hours.

Sunday around noon I got a call that another niece and her three sons were here for the day. So we had leftovers for lunch, then went back out to the Sandbar for day two. My great-nephew Alex told me that I'm "his favorite Aunt", and when we were in the water, he told another little boy to "stay away from his princess". He's only 5, but you gotta admit, he's a bright boy. Except he hasn't quite learned "lake etiquette" yet. We all wade out into the water if we need to go to the bathroom. We taught him to do that too, but he still "takes it out", and announces to the whole world what he's doing. If we weren't laughing so hard we might be able to help him.

More leftovers for supper, and we tarped the boat, put it away, and said goodbye to another weekend. My nose and cheeks are red, I'm sleepy from the sun, and sad that I had to say goodbye to another summer weekend.

A Picture Says A Thousand Words

What Summer Looks Like

It's full-on summer, and nature is bursting out all over. The yellow lily pads on the lake are about to bloom, but the white ones are at their peak.

I have actual tomatoes on my plants, although they're still a long way from ripeness. That's in spite of a horrible wind storm and two hail storms. I gave up on the strawberries (the bunnies ate them all) and ripped them out of the ground. The daylilies should start blooming in a month or so, and the Easter Lily I planted a couple of years ago should scent up the garden nicely very soon.

Shots Have Been Fired

Just as I closed up my work computer for the evening I heard a loud bang. My first thought (I have a morbid imagination) was that my elderly neighbor just shot his wife. Then a second shot rang out; and a third.

"Leftover firecrackers", I thought.

After the next shot, I decided to investigate by looking out my windows. A few campers down, by the edge of the swamp, a teenage boy was shooting a gun. My heart was pumping now, and I called the campground office to report it.

The office said that a mama skunk and her almost-grown babies had been reported in the swamp, and they were trying to get rid of them by shooting them. Nobody had been sprayed, nobody had been hurt, and the skunks were keeping to themselved in the swamp. I've never smelled even a whiff of skunk scent.

Why can't we just leave well enough alone? Last year they were shooting the raccoons. The only time these critters cause damage is when we leave garbage out. Skunks eat mice and snakes and other pesty critters, and stick to themselves mostly.

I understand the fear of rabies - I really do. And I know that my view of nature is somewhat ideallic. But isn't there some sort of balance where we leave them alone as long as they leave us alone?

You Can't Always Believe What You Read

WAHPETON, N.D. – Witnesses say a man who robbed bank here had an empty soda pop case and not a 12-pack of beer.

Police had said the man came into the Gate City Bank with a gun and a pack of beer Wednesday afternoon.

Witnesses at the bank told police the man had a gun in an empty pop case, and also put the money he took from the bank into the pop case. Bank workers also say the man was captured on a video surveillance camera entering the bank. FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe said authorities are reviewing surveillance photos.

The FBI said the suspect may have fled in an older, white General Motors vehicle.

I liked the story better when it was a 12-pack of beer.

Hail No

Last night we had a monster of a hail event. My car is all dinged up, the result of quarter to silver dollar sized chunks of ice that rained down from the sky. If you've never spent a hail storm in a camper, you don't know what you're missing. At one point it was so loud I couldn't hear my niece on the phone (she was staying alone in her parent's camper just down the road).

Storm damage cleanup is already ongoing in the campground - I guess they're used to it. I wish I was.