Weird Wednesday Post

Mr. Wildlife is looking at a pretty domesticated day today. The kids have gone tubing down a local spring fed river. The wife is out saving the world, one patient at a time. Mostly she's saving them from themselves ... I have little pity for self inflicted misery through drugs, alcohol and tobacco use, but that's why I'd make a rotten public health nurse.

I'm looking at laundry, kitchen duty, puppy sitting, some outside cleanup, ... maybe a trip to the landfill if I'm really lucky.

Of course, performing those tasks at PFHQ often results in a wildlife encounter of some kind, so I will keep my camera with me.


Princess Laya, the best banty hen EVER has gone broody over a clutch of eggs in a patio chair on our porch. She has not budged in days. If successful, this will be her third batch of chicks. Needless to say, these flipflops won't be worn until she's done.

I had put this movie on my Netflix Que long before we adopted our two new pups. With all of Gumbo's troubles, it seems strangely prophetic now. Gumbo is up and down with joint pain that comes and goes, but mostly he's good. Some new test results should come in today that will confirm or rule out a handful of tickborne diseases.


The new double-edged weedeater came in last week. It's kind of noisy and uses lots of energy, but it did make short work of this grass growing beneath my muscadine grape vine.


This is me worried.

Yesterday, I dropped Junior and his buddy Jim off for a canoe trip down the Waccasassa River.
It was the first canoe trip of any length where I was not going along, so I gave them lots of tips ... avoid the poison ivy, stay out of the deep gatory holes, watch the sharp rocks, keep an eye out for moccasins, what to do if you are bit by a moccasin, ... you know, ... the usual parental advice.

The sky was clear and sunny at the drop point as I bade the boys good luck and they paddled off.
Apparently that clear sky was a tiny hole in a big doughnut of powerful thunderstorms that were building all around.
My wife called me about 5 minutes after I dropped them off ...
"The boys aren't still going canoeing are they?"
"Yes, I just dropped them off."
"What! It's thundering here in town. Tell them to come back."
"It's clear at the river, they were really looking forward to this.
"No, you should tell them to come back."
"I have an errand to run, I'll let them canoe a little and then give them a call to come back."
Silence.
"I won't be long."

My errand involved running to school, about 10 miles from the river, to feed my classroom fish and pick up Stewy, the corn snake for the summer.
By the time I had Stewy loaded in the JEEP, an hour had gone by. The sky had blackened and the closer I got to the river, the darker the sky became. I fished out my phone to call Junior and it rang before I could punch his speed dial number.
"Hey Dad, the weather's getting bad so we have turned around and are paddling back."
"Excellent, I'll be waiting."

Where did he get that common sense?

I pulled the JEEP down into the riverside forest and waited anxiously as lightning blasted nearby and a driving rain pounded the JEEP's soft top.
It wasn't too long a wait. They had only been an hour out and had stopped to horse around in the shallows, so the actual distance covered wasn't that great.

The wait seemed very long though with all they sky pyrotechnics going off. Take a look at the worried me picture, see how dark it appears in the background?
That was noon. The sky was completely dark at that point and would stay that way for the next few hours.

Eventually, they pulled up to the bank and I jumped out to help the loading of gear go quickly.
Back in the JEEP it was all excited boy tales about the lightning, the dash back, the obstacles ...
... sweet music that.

Back at the house, the boys cleaned up and I told them to jot down anything they wanted me to bring back from town as I had to go to the bank.
They quickly made the list you see below. I didn't read it at the time, just stuffed it in my pocket and headed out the door.

In the store, I pulled it out and innocently started working down the list.


If you were in the Chiefland Walmart yesterday around 3:00 pm, I was the insane person laughing uncontrollably in the produce section.

Have a happy Wednesday!