SILENT NIGHT

Incredibly silent. Deceptively peaceful. A soft wind blowing through the haphazard clutter of shivering treetops. It's nearly 2:00 a.m. on a cold, sightless night. I just stepped out on the back porch. Everything is pitch black. The moon is rising - a faint translucent glimmer nestled in the forest. By dawn it will be high above the trees.

Last night was bitterly cold. The temperature dropped to 12 degrees Fahrenheit and I stayed up until way after dawn to make sure the water pipes didn't freeze (they froze and burst the first winter that I lived here, so I've been nervous about it ever since).

Tonight - thankfully - it isn't nearly as frigid, but it's still cold enough to chill my bones in this damp and drafty house. I have a pot of homemade potato soup on the stove and plan to eat some shortly.

Until then, I'll share some photos that were taken very recently. 

 Yesterday morning I stepped outside  at dawn and took these photos.

 The moon way up above the trees.

 Forest in the back yard

Scruffy on the back porch about three days ago. After being sick for awhile, she has finally gained weight and her fur looks much better. She's a sweetheart.

 I very seldom take photos of myself. I took this last Friday (the 8th) after I got home from my excursion to town. My El Cheapo camera only has a ten-second timer. I have to set the timer, then run like hell and try to assume a pleasing position before the camera snaps. It ain't easy.

I wiped the frost off my bedroom window yesterday morning and took this pic of the nearby mountain illuminated by the rising sun.

 I was on the floor in the sunshine the other day, studying some music scores, when Scratch (Kitzee) came to join me. She soon fell asleep.

WEIRD SKY

So, where's the online store, Jon?

It's all set up, ready to go. But I'm a procrastinator. Not to mention a perfectionist. I'm ironing out "kinks", so to speak.


My father was a perfectionist. Wow, could I ever tell stories about him......

Many things around here have been subtracting from my time with the store.

I have acute hay fever from the weeds.

 I'm having "problems" (to put it mildly) with:
raccoons, squirrels, 'possums, mice, insects.

Did I mention wasps? I took down over ten (yes, 10) nests this week.
That's the cue for a story.

I had an old air conditioner on the back porch for a long time. It was left by the previous owners and I hated it. It's HUGE and HEAVY. And I mean HEAVY. In complete exasperation I simply covered it with an old carpet and left it there (despite the fact that I hate junk hanging around).

Well.....the wasps made a nest in the air conditioner and another nest in the carpet! I didn't know the nests were there and when I tried to move the air conditioner, they all flew out in Attack Mode. I started swinging a mop at them and somehow made it into the house safely. I never saw such angry wasps in my life.
I was afraid to go out on the back porch again for days.

Finally I got the courage to tackle the nests. Armed with gloves, heavy clothing, and Mega Strong bug spray I managed to get the two nests....
......but angry wasps were still hanging around for several more days. It was a slow process but I finally got things under control.
AND I didn't get stung!!!

BTW - I just found another nest by the garage.

Today I cleaned the air conditioner and dragged it into the garage (the process of dragging ravaged my bad back and nearly killed me).

I'm presently painting the back porch - which is taking much longer than expected. And this is only the first coat of paint....

So, what about the weird sky, Jon?

I looked up at the sky this afternoon and saw a bunch of weird "formations" streaking everywhere. It was incredible.

My initial thought was:
Holy shit, Rocket Man is shooting missiles at Tennessee!

I grabbed my El Cheapo camera and took some pics - - but they aren't nearly as impressive as it looked in real. The entire sky had streaks everywhere.

Air Force maneuvers? Martians? Missiles? Heck if I know.

Back porch (this is only the first coat)

Weird sky

Streak over back yard

This almost looks like sky writing.
Remember when the witch wrote Surrender, Dorothy! in the "Wizard of Oz"?
I was expecting to see Surrender, Jon!

Two more streaks coming up from behind the trees (center) and one more coming in on the far right (top).

I think it's an invasion.

Here's my back yard without streaks.