Updates For Dog Days

We seem to be entering the dog days of summer now, and if I'm not mistaken the constellations agree.  When I posted recently and said it seemed like peak summer perfection at that time, I was correct.  The signs of a waning summer are visible now, but it's way too early to dwell on them.  Lots of good outdoor time yet to be had, thankfully.

The last several weeks have been pretty mundane around here.  We had quite the hot spell so spent most of our time indoors for a while, but have had lots of open window time, too.  Otherwise, it's been pretty routine; work all day and house chores and relaxing at night, not much socializing at all.  Where we live in Dane County we're sitting pretty good compared to other places.  We have a very high vaccination rate and things have been pretty relaxed for awhile here, but with the new variant we've started wearing our masks everywhere again and purposely not going out when we don't need, just to be safe.  We'll get there eventually, it'll just take more time - and vaccinations.

I know I've not written a whole lot the last several weeks, and my last couple posts have been mostly pictures, which actually prompted me to write more about them.  This may be like that, too, so sorry if you weren't a fan!  I just thought maybe I'd do a few updates on some varied things.

To start off, back in January I was considering whether getting the local newspaper delivered was still worth it to me.  Well, I kept getting the paper for a few months after, but canceled it at the beginning of May and I haven't looked back since.  I still get most of my news online, as well as sports updates.  The biggest change, really, is I saved one more daily cartoon to read online.  Money well saved, I think.

Update number two: Squirrels are still bastards.  This little bastard was just so picturesque this morning as he worked his way into a black walnut on our back railing.  I ran him off right after as I don't want any of that black walnut litter staining the wood, if I can help it.

All these pictures are from today, but most have a connection to past happenings.  See the rest after the break!

I found a wallet on my after-work walk this afternoon.  It was pretty warm out but mostly just very humid, so I decided to walk around our section of the creek.  No shortcuts back unless I wanted to cross the creek ;) .   I found it along the edge of a lawn and the wildflowers that line the creek.  It looked fishy so I took a picture to note where I found it, if ever asked.  So not a good picture, but you can see it bottom center.

The address of the owner was just a few blocks up in an apartment complex, and that was the direction I was headed anyway, so off I went.  He wasn't there but his wife was.  She seemed surprised, and when I told her where I found it she said he left that way, so hopefully just dropped and not robbed - there was no cash in it.  I was sufficiently satisfied to leave it with her and be on my way.

I have squatter chipmunks (also bastards) at the corner of the porch again.  I've known about them all year, but they hadn't made a mess yet to make me want to relocate them bad enough.  I'm seeing lots of dirt and nutshells lately.  Should they be evicted?

I also lied a couple weeks ago when I posted what was left of the pots on the stump area.  The night before I posted I planned to repot and help out the two similar plants, yellow and purple.  They had been ravaged by the critters (see bastards above).  The next day they were ripped to shreds, only some of the yellow was left.  I got rid of the other pot and pulled the yellow one down, off the stump but in front, where it still sits today.  Apparently something better tasting ripened as the yellow one has been allowed to continue and start to look okay again.  Sure, why not?

Several weeks ago I ran out of firewood but was restocked soon after.  Since that time, 4 full weeks now, I've had one fire.  Just one, so haven't even used up the overflow pile yet.  Keep in mind, I'll only have one on the weekends, but it's always been just too hot out, or wet maybe once or twice (we still have a big rain deficit this year).  The weather would be pretty good tonight if it weren't for the humidity, and the thunderstorms expected.  Same tomorrow, but there's always next weekend!

I think that's where I'll leave it for now.  This was fun, I wrote more than I expected I would.  Take care, everyone.  Things are getting bad again out there.  Be safe.