29 May 2011

Nature, in all the myriad of forms it takes, is normally pretty nifty.  Watching a storm, seeing a beautiful flowering plant, or observing a predator plying its trade, can all be fascinating.  What is not so awesome is when your dog finds a very dead and desiccated seagull carcass, and decides to have a mid-afternoon snack.

Prior to coming to the island, Darcy had a weeklong bout on intestinal distress that was severe enough to prompt me to engage the services of Stanley Steamer at my condo.  The vet was of the opinion that this was caused by him eating a handful of raisins that had dropped on the floor; apparently raisins are toxic to dogs.  Now riddle me this, raisins bring Darcy to Death’s door, but he eats the head off a long deceased bird and he’s fine.  What gives?  Really?

This was not the only entertainment the beast provided for us today.  While we were down at the beach he started spazzing, shaking his head violently, growling, hopping around, putting on quite the display.  It turns out he tried to eat a rubber band used for lobster claws and it got stuck on his tooth, confounding him and agitating him greatly. 

In all other respects it was a day much like the past few, waking up to fog, and going to sleep to fog.  We did manage to complete raking the lawn, and get the rest of the lawn on the top of the island mowed.  I also repaired the plug on the composting toilet fan, so now it smells much more like pine shavings instead of night soil, while using the throne.

I made a big pot of chili for dinner in an effort to warm us up.  I sincerely hope to move away from soups & breads in the next couple of weeks and maybe start doing some grilling for dinner.  While hearty soups are obligatory with this weather, it seems to me that an island summer should involve, I dunno, a hog with an apple in its mouth, turning on a spit above an open flame, rather than a stock pot & people in wool hats.

To end the evening off, I completed my first knot project, a square knot sheath to hold my knife.  It’s a little rough around the edges but will suffice for a working piece, and it was good practice, as the next project is a square knot mandolin strap.  Stay tuned.  We turned in with a freshening SSE’ly breeze, temps in the high 50’s, and the barometer at 29.96” and falling.  The seas were SE’ly at four to six feet.