The Gout Fairy

I wasn’t sure I was going to make this post today. I actually debated because my left foot really, really hurts. You see, whether I’ve scheduled it or not about 3 times a year the gout fairy comes and pays me a visit. If you’ve never met the gout fairy he looks like what you would expect if Danny DiVito and Micky Rooney had a love child. Except the gout fairy isn’t quite as ugly as Danny DiVito.

When you think of fairies you think of silent and furtive little creatures that sneak in, do their job abd leave as quietly as they arrived. The tooth fairy and Santa Claus are excellent examples. Not so with the gout fairy. He came to my home last night almost passed out drunk. He tripped on my front steps and stumbled across my deck until he hit my front door with his head. The entire house shook. I rushed to the front door because I thought it might be one of the druggies a few miles down the road. Nope. It was the gout fairy. I tried helping him to his feet and when he was almost standing he farted loudly, broke into gales of laughter, fell back down onto my deck and promptly puked.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up the gout fairy. When he finally did straighten up he stomped on my foot then proceeded back down my steps, out into the back yard and passed out cold. I left him there because my foot hurt too much for me to walk even the short distance he had covered before passing out. I also didn’t care. I took some pain killers and climbed back into bed. When I awoke this morning my foot was swollen and aching and the bastard was no where to be seen. Good thing because I would have shot him. I don’t know if fairies can be killed but I was willing to give it the old college try.

I finally worked up the courage to get out of the house and take the pictures I normally do just to piss him off. Next time he shows up I’m thinking about taking a video. I’m assuming there has to be some kind of fairy union rules and regulations that cover this kind of slovenly behavior.

Hope your Tuesday was less painful than mine. Here are today’s pictures:

 

Pictorial Post of Beauty

I’m posting this early today because I wanted to share it while I’m still looking at the beauty outside through the window in my study. The ice is still clinging to the trees but in another hour it all will be gone. When I awoke this morning the temperature was 12 degrees and it was very foggy. That’s right, heavy fog. I actually went to the weather channel website to confirm what my thermometers were indicating and they were correct. This was about 4am and it was quite dark outside. I turned on the lights and everything was covered with beautiful crystal ferns. It’s the only way to describe what I was seeing. It was perfectly quiet, perfectly still and Jack Frost had gone insane overnight. Just as daylight was breaking I went out to get some photos and this accounts for some of the photos being on the dark side. I knew when the sun burned off the fog the ice would follow quickly. You’ll also see my outside thermometer in some images. The temperature was rising quickly from its morning low.

I made this post simply for you folks to enjoy. The fog is almost gone now and the ice is quickly leaving but I was once again blessed with the beauty I moved to Tennessee for.

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I hope you enjoy these pictures on this early Monday morning:

 

 

Snowfall and Gunshots

I’ve learned quite a bit about living in Tennessee over the almost two years I have lived here. I’ve learned about noodling, about poke salad, about ground fish and today I learned about what you’re supposed to do when a neighbor calls and says there’s some drunk (or high) fool trespassing on their property.

Earlier today it snowed. Where I live we received about 2 inches. Not enough to speak about from my perspective having lived in the northern part of New York much of my life, but certainly enough by Tennessee standards. The roads were certainly slippery and even the dirt road I live off off was very treacherous.

Now, you know someone isn’t quite in their right mind when they go past a home, on a day like today doing 60 miles an hour on a one lane road. They’re either drunk or high. My neighbor, who lives maybe a mile away called my brother-in-law early this afternoon and said that’s just what happened. He was looking out the front window of his house and this car zoomed past. This neighbor got in his truck and drove up the road a ways and found what he expected; the car smashed up against a tree.  OK, that’s bad enough. The idiot was climbing out of the vehicle rather unsteadily. That’s also to be expected. When the neighbor shouted at the guy asking whether he was alright or not the idiot took off running through the woods. In Tennessee that’s not only unexpected, but it’s downright rude. Not only did he not answer the question but he compounded the affront with trespassing. Trespassing is highly frowned upon around here.

So what do you do in this part of the world when you have a trespasser? I received a call from my neighbor who thinks I’m a groundhog and he educated me. He knows I have a loaded handgun always close at hand. He asked me if I’d go out and touch off a few rounds into the air. I live so far into the woods that there’s no issue with hitting anyone. What this apparently does is let’s the intruder know that moving in the direction of the gunshots is not a wise idea.

The police got the plate number from the vehicle and will surely be talking to this individual who, after crashing into a tree became suddenly enamored with hiking. I thought I was always a country boy. I was never been this country. This has been quite an educational experience.

Hope your Sunday was as educational as mine. Here are today’s pictures:

 

Red Sky in Morning Sailor Take Warning

From time to time I start out saying this is going to be a short post. This isn’t one of those times! I’ve got a ton of thoughts going through my head today and I just want to share them. It started early this morning. As any of you who have been reading this blog for awhile know, I’m an early bird. I am always up before the dawn. This morning was no exception and I watched a spectacular sunrise. I had to go out and capture some of it for you folks. Here’s a small sample:

When I saw this I remembered the old saying, “Red Sky in Morning Sailor Take Warning” so when I went back inside I looked at the weather for this area. It seems we’re under a winter storm watch with upwards of 2-5 inches of snow tomorrow. Very interesting. If that happens it’ll be the most snow we’ve had all year.

While I was at the computer I worked a little while on my current story. It’s coming along but writing this one is like pulling teeth. Sometimes stories are like that. As I usually do I turned on music in the living room so I could have some background music while I wrote. I can’t write without music playing. I set the stereo to randomly select songs and went back to the story. It wasn’t too long before Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” started playing. I love that song! Anyway, that got me to thinking about Jim Steinman who wrote that particular song for her as well as most of Meatloaf’s songs. I have Jim Steinman’s album, “Bad for Good” playing right now. Great rock! It’s simply amazing how many songs we recognize and went to the top of the charts were actually written and produced by Jim Steinman.

This got me to thinking about what I have said several times in this blog about seeing what’s all around us. It must have been serendipity because later in the day someone sent me an e-mail story about violinist Joshua Bell. I checked the story on Snopes and it’s absolutely true. I wanted to copy it here for you to see how something we can consider precious and so valuable is sometimes right in front of us and we choose to ignore it.

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A Most Interesting Story

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

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I’ve said before in these posts that we shouldn’t just concentrate on ‘seeing’ though that is also important. This morning’s sunrise is proof of that! However we can also enjoy touch, like cold bed sheets, smell, like chocolate, hearing, like listening to Jim Steinman and taste, like a fine wine. It’s all around us. All we have to do is discover it.

I hope your Saturday was as filled with Beauty as mine was. Here are today’s pictures:

 

Absolutely Brilliant Day

The title says it all. Today was springtime warm and the skies were crystal clear. It was absolutely gorgeous. My sister’s dog Zelda came down to play with Zeus most of the day. I’ll be going up to put her back to bed just before dark. They played all day long and exhausted each other. Zeus is in the living room right now collapsed on his blanket in front of the wood stove. My sister and brother-in-law are on a road trip today and tomorrow and I’ll have pictures of what they’re bringing back, probably Sunday. We’ll see. I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.

I ordered a Havahart electric fence a few days ago and it arrived today. I’m going to try to save my flowerbed from rambunctious dobermans. We’ll see how that goes too! Guess I’ll open it up and read the instructions. Yes, I’m a man but sometimes I break the rules like reading instructions and asking for directions. I know, I know, I’ve been warned about being thrown out of the man club but I just find it saves time and severe electrical burns.

I’m also very excited today. They highly talented people at Anthrodreams created a podcast from one of my stories. As I told a friend of mine I’ve been Podlished! The story they podlished is one of my darker ones, but with a good ending. The story is titled “Love is Golden” and I think it sounds quite good! They did a fantastic job with it! They’re also going to be doing another of my stories, “The First Groundling Skydancer” and it should be coming out by early spring. Hearing what they did with “Love is Golden” I can’t wait to hear what they do with a fun story!

Hope your Friday was as good as mine. Here are today’s pictures:

 

Woodsmoke and Spring Birdsong

I wish I knew how many people in Tennessee burn wood either as their sole heating source or as an added heating supply. In this area there are quite a few. I use pellets and they do not give off the same wonderful aroma that a typical word burning stove does. In the early morning and evening going outside I am greeted with the beautiful fragrance of woodsmoke. My neighbors are quite a distance away so the fragrance is not overpowering. It’s like walking into a room where someone had been smoking a pipe an hour before. You can tell the smoke was there, you can detect the sweet and savory aroma, but you’re not overpowered by it.

That’s what I was greeted with today going outside early. Then I heard the unmistakable early spring birdsongs. I couldn’t tell who was singing but they were quite happy early this morning. The entire area was filled with beautiful melodies. It’s the start of the season. As the weather progressively warms the songs will get more numerous. Today the sound seemed to carry, like the scent of woodsmoke on the air. It was quietly raining and there wasn’t a breath of wind so song was filling the air almost as much as the raindrops were. I can’t wait to see what this area will be like later this year. Last year I was still moving in and the area was all torn up. Now there are feeders about, bird houses and birdbaths. Should be a great year.

Hope your Thursday was filled with good aromas. Here are today’s pictures:

 

365th and Suet Feeder

Today is a milestone of sorts. This post marks my 365th posting to this blog. I feel that’s an accomplishment! It’s taken quite a bit of work, quite a few pictures and a great deal of thought. I’m hoping you folks have enjoyed it and I hope I can get another 365 done.

I also hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day. My sister and brother-in-law took me out to dinner last night. It was obviously to take my sister out for Valentine’s Day but I think I was invited along just to get me out of the house. They were kind though and we went quite early, arriving well be fore 5PM, so it was not crowded. They are well aware of me and my dislike of crowds.

I finally got around to building that suet feeder I’ve mentioned the last couple of posts. It’s up and working, as you can see, and birds have already taken advantage of it. I created a mixture of lard, peanut butter, whole wheat flour, corn meal, peanuts and sunflower seeds and pushed the semi firm mixture into 2 inch in diameter holes drilled into a log about 2 inches deep. There are 24 stations on this suet feeder so we’ll see how it works over the next few days. Most of the birds, with the exception of Tufted Titmice, are still leery of this new feeder hanging outside but they’ll get used to it. If it works well I’ll make another.

Hope your Wednesday was as productive as mine. Here are today’s pictures:

 

Freezing Rain and Birds

Today we have a forecast for potential snow and freezing rain. I think the birds heard it on whatever radio they listen to because they’ve been hitting the feeders heavily since early this morning. They’re even eating the home made suet I put out. It didn’t turn out quite as well as I planned because it falls apart at the slightest touch. My sister says it needs more lard. She’s probably right. I think there’s too much seed and not enough binder in the mix. I’ll make another batch.

I’m also thinking about making a log feeder. It’s pretty simple. It’s a fairly good sized block of wood cut from a tree and there are multiple holes about an inch or so in diameter drilled into it. The holes are then filled with suet and hung were the birds can get at them. Easy to make, natural for the birds, and easy to restock. I think I even know where to get some wood! *looks around at the trees surrounding his home very innocently* I already have the drill which would be a perfect size. Maybe a project for tomorrow while it’s raining.

Well, no matter what it does tonight, I’m ready. Let it get cold, let it snow, let it rain and freeze. The stove is fully stocked, I have the makings of fruit smoothies and enough movies to last a lifetime. Oh, wait, if we lose power… OK, cancel the rain and freeze part. Then I’m ready! *grins*

Hope you had a great Monday. Here are today’s pictures:

 

It’s Mud, No, wait, I mean Spring!

It’s warming up again. After a couple days of cold today turned out to be quite pleasant. However my yard is not looking pleasant at all. Take a look carefully at Zeus’s nose. It’s covered with mud. After the freezes we’ve had over the last several days the sun came out today and melted the first half inch or so. That made the top portion of the ground very soupy and dog paws and nails tear it up very, very easily. I have had to clean my kitchen floor three times today. I’ve vacuumed my rugs twice and all of the mud still isn’t up. If you’ve ever lived in Georgia you know there is lots of red clay. Here in Tennessee too! That crud is hell to get out of anything, especially rugs. Oh well, I’d rather have my dogs outside and enjoying the finally nice weather again that inside being bored to tears. Better for my disposition too. At least with them outside I don’t have to deal with a nose to the elbow asking to play every thirty seconds.

I also tried making suet cakes today. I’m not sure how well they are going to turn out. They don’t seem to be holding together well. I may have to try something different. Fortunately I have some more plans and we’ll see if I can get them going later this week. I ran out of suet and figured I’d try making my own. I’ll keep you good folks informed and I’ll be sure to get some pictures!

Hope you had a great Sunday. Here are today’s pictures:

 

Dobermans Don’t Like Snow

Today was cold. Both Max, my Rottie, and Zeus, my Doberman, didn’t mind being outside. They played in the yard, chased each other around, and simply carried on like fools for much of the day. I guess they kept each other warm with all of their shenanigans. I was inside cleaning and watching a couple of movies. Later in the day it started snowing here. As soon as that started they were both at the door wanting to come in. Apparently their fur is not thick enough to keep the snow from melting and as it hit them it melted, and ran against their skin as cold water. I did not have happy puppies! Dobermans do not like snow!

My sister told me a funny story today. Apparently my neighbor, who live up the road from me, knows I’m a hermit. I just do not go out much. My sister and brother-in-law were up there visiting a few days ago and he asked if I had been out yet this winter. They told him, “Yes, just a few days ago in fact. It was groundhog day.” Seems everyone knows I don’t like going out and don’t like people very much.

I have the outside light to my front yard on tonight so I can watch the snow falling past my living room window. It’s rather beautiful. The snow is coming almost straight down. Very pretty.

Hope you had a great Friday. Here’s today’s pictures: