July 9th -14th

July 9, 2005

It’s my niece Lucy’s birthday today! Happy seventh, Lulu! I made another trip into town today with a list of things I needed to do and get. Then I went to the diner and saw Angela, and asked her to meet me at a cafe later in the afternoon—the first time I’ve asked out a girl in about thirteen years. We had a nice chat over iced chai at Dutch Brothers (Blue Stone, which has better snacks, closes early). I hope we go out again. It’s nice to have a friend in Grants Pass, especially one so attractive. Of course, I was so distracted I forgot to get half the things on my list, including a phone card. Doh!

July 10, 2005

After a morning of trimming around the upper house and my garden fence, I spent most of today lounging about with a new novel I’m reading, American Owned Love, by Robert Boswell. I read one of his novels back in the mid-‘90s and really liked it, and then I saw this book in a used book shop in Salt Lake City, and bought it. Later in the afternoon I wrote the ending to the short story I’ve been plugging away at. I think I need to beef up the middle with more characterization, but in the meantime, if I can find a way to post it as a PDF, I’ll do it. I hate the way prose paragraphs and dialogue appear on a blog. It’s impossible to format properly with indentations, etc.

July 11, 2005

It was a beautiful, breezy day here, and we spent a good chunk of it down at our beach. No fishing this time. I entertained myself with a crossword, some more chapters in the Boswell novel, and a few songs on the iPod. It’s strange to be sitting out in such a wild place, with the river’s song a mere ten feet away, and to listen to music through headphones. I could only take so much of that before I settled back in the sounds of birds and water (and the voices of the occasional rafters going past).

The phone rang tonight, and I was hoping it was my new friend, but alas, it wasn’t. It was Bradley calling to say he’d be coming out on Friday and staying the weekend. He said I sounded a little lonely in my last blog posting. I told him he didn’t need to come rescue me, but he said he needed to get out for his own sake, too. We’re going to chop some stove wood up by the upper house. He’ll cook for me one night, I’ll cook for him the other. Of course, we’ll be pegging on the cribbage board, too, I’m sure. It’ll be good to hang out with him. I’m curious to see what he thinks of all I’ve done here.

July 12, 2005

I was awakened this morning by Gus growling at the bedroom window. I looked out and saw the blackberry bushes rustling around, and heard twigs snapping. Mr. Bear! Or, as I later learned, Mrs. Bear. To silence Gus, I put him in his crate, then I got my camera. Sure enough, here came Mrs. Bear gobbling up the berries. How she stomps through those thorny blackberry bushes, I don’t know. Must have thick skin on her paws. Here are some photos I took. I also shot a short movie from the deck, but erased it by mistake when I was scanning through the camera. Doh!




While I was out on the deck taking pictures, I glanced up the hill behind the cabin and saw a tiny cub walk through a clearing! This is why I think the bigger bear is a Mrs. I didn’t get a shot of the cub, sorry to say. Maybe next time. They’ll be back.

My nephew Ezra’s birthday today! Twelve years old. Hard to believe. I remember when he was an infant, one of the most adorable I’ve ever seen. And he’s turned out to be the sweetest of boys and, from what I hear, a damned good baseball player, too. Happy birthday, boy!

Late in the day Gus went like a shot through the meadow behind the barn and into the woods barking like crazy. I thought I heard some snorts and rustling amid all the barking. My guess is that the bears were back. I used my foolproof trick to get Gus to come back toward the cabin: I opened the car door, started the engine and tooted the horn. He can’t stand the thought of me driving off without him. Sure enough, he came running up to the car. He’s quite the watchdog, but it’s scary to think he’s running down a 300-pound bear.

July 13, 2005

Another morning coffee without half-n-half. Soy milk just doesn’t cut it. The coloring isn’t right and there’s a kind of oily taste that just doesn’t agree with me. I love soy milk in cereal and chai tea. But it’s not meant for coffee, despite what my ex-wife says. As much as I’ve tried, I can’t get into black coffee either. No, I need the creamy goodness of half-n-half. So it’s on the top of my shopping list. I’m planning to head into town tomorrow, since Bradley’s coming on Friday. Lots to do!

I spent the morning doing chores, trimming the grass in the garden enclosure and clearing twigs and branches from the whole length of the DH road.

Lazy afternoon. Same old same old. I wrote and recorded a new song, but I’ll spare you. In fact, I think I’m going to delete many of the old ones from the blog. They take up too much space and they're not very good anyway. I also deleted the movie I made. It used up all the space on my server, and I couldn’t post anything last time. Pictures will have to suffice.

Me, today, around 7:20 pm. Don’t laugh at the hat. At least it’s not the Stetson. Speaking of which, anybody want that thing?


July 14, 2005

A hundred degrees in southern Oregon today, and I'm glad I decided to spend the night in town. Thanks to air conditioning, to the wonders of electricty, the hotel room is quite chilly, thank you very much. And the hotel pool was nice, too. I'd hoped for a dinner partner, but alas I'll be eating sushi solo. Better than cooking for myself in the hot cabin, though.

Gus is sprawled out beneath the air conditioner.

Now I know why I haven't missed the news. I just flipped on CNN and the first thing I heard was that China has made nuclear threats against the United States. Of course, the media is probably blowing this way out of proportion and contributing in its own way to humanity's ultimate demise. What madness.