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Tuesday, September 14, 2004

However the flies are getting into my house, surely by now they know they're not welcome. All that waving of the limp, lopsided flyswatter should have been a clue. On the other hand, my poor aim might be what's encouraging them. I used to be pretty good with a swatter, but not so much any more. I think I need a new one. It can't be that I've lost my batting eye.

The flies are most of the reason I'm not spending more time reading on the back porch in the late afternoon. It would be perfect out there if not for all the buzzing around my head. Ever since the yard guy was here and got rid of the weeds that were growing over and through the porch boards and knocking on the screen door, it's been tempting to spend more and more time outside. If those nasty little houseflies would leave me alone, I would.

Sometimes I just put up with the flies. Sometimes I take the flyswatter outside with me and hope for the best. And sometimes I'm lucky and they leave me alone. I can never figure out what makes them decide to swarm around me some days and stay away on others. That's true of the flies both inside and outside the house.

I'm not really worried about mosquitoes. Maybe I should be, with a few incidents of West Nile Virus popping up around the county. But I don't think there's enough moisture in my yard to attract the carrier mosquitoes, and I've never really been bothered by them since I moved here. I do get an occasional bee that won't be denied. That'll send me scampering inside faster than anything.

It's not that I don't respect the creatures of nature or value their lives. I wouldn't hurt a flea. Well, maybe a flea, or a fly, or a column of ants. Or anything that stings or bites without provocation. But other than that, I try not to kill anything, even the spider who keeps setting up housekeeping in my shower. Maybe I'm not relocating it far enough away.




14 September 2004

Pile of rocks.



This afternoon as I was thinking of pulling the lawn chairs out onto the porch, I saw a family of quail sauntering through the yard. I made a little ticking noise with my tongue to see what they would do. Usually they'll run off, and sometimes they'll even take flight. This bunch just froze. I guess they thought I couldn't see them if they didn't move. They outlasted me, too, because I lost interest before they decided to get on with their evening constitutional.




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Stuff

The Giants managed to escape with a win tonight in a game where they didn't hit very well. The Brewers even pitched to Barry Bonds, walking him twice but getting him out twice. He'll have to wait another day to get home run number 700, but he did score a run in the Giants' 3-2 win, and he made a throw from left field that cut down the tying run at the plate, saving the game. Best of all, he had the Milwaukee fans cheering when he came to the plate. It was good to see the greatest player in modern baseball get some respect and appreciation.

Recent recommendations can always be found on the links page.


One year ago: To Me
"And there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it except complain, so complain I do. But not to them, only to the fates that micromanage my life, because obviously there's some Master Plan to give me things to complain about."

Three years ago: Proceed With Caution
"A perfectly safe society is a society sanitized of all dissent, where everyone is a suspect before a crime is even committed. That's not America."


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