Emails from the Electric Company

The electric companies for mine and neighboring counties keep sending out daily emails asking us not to use the electricity until after 10 pm and in some cases midnight. Yesterday they requested we not use the electricity until 9 pm so some days the restriction is lifted early. There are so many excuses and equally …

Stage 4

We have entered stage 4, critical water shortage conditions. There are only 5 stages in the system and stage 5 is titled “emergency”. I only use the water to wash clothes once a week, water the animals and myself in terms of consumption to stave off dehydration, and water the fruit trees between 8 pm …

The Creeks went Dry

I was headed to the dollar general down the road today when i noticed this zigzag line that curved around…it was a patch of tree tops that had turned brown surrounded by all the other green ones. It wasnt autumn yet. No cold weather had made these leaves turn. This meant the trees must have …

Summer Chores become Nocturnal

The car read 108 degrees today and the porch thermometer at the house said 112. The tv at work said we tied the previous record in 2011 today for highest number of consecutive triple digit temperature days recorded at 27 consecutive days. They are forecasting 40 days. They say tomorrow will make 2023 the new …

Moonlight

I did not finish with the chores tonight until 9:30 pm. As soon as the moon rose i didnt care. Everything melted away and i was filled with a sense of contentment and perhaps joy. Walking around in the middle of the wilderness under a nearly full moon gives me a sense of well being …

Front Porch Haircut

My sister came to town to visit me and she brought her scissors so she could cut my hair. I wanted layers like i used to get when i got my hair cut in the city and she was pretty sure she could give me a layered look. She had started cutting her own and …

Wild Grapes

These are muscat grapes. They grow wild near the building where i work in fredericksburg. You can eat them yourself if lost in the woods and hungry but they’re pretty sour as grapes go. Instead, i collect them and give them to the chickens at home who seem to love them despite their sour taste.

New Life

Once a year the yard is overrun with baby toads. Eventually, i managed to catch one long enough to photograph it. This is a relatively small one but i’ve seen them tinier. These guys are hopping around the grass. Just yesterday i saw my first spotted fawn of the year. It was with 2 white …

The Down Home Country Parade

I had never been to the down home country parade. It went on every summer. Floats rolled down the main street behind pickups and people threw candy from the parade floats for the children to run out and grab. I hadnt been because i was an introvert that found large crowds of people exhausting and …