vocal hawk, wet Cat, night market, cracked pecans, missing sign

One of our local red shouldered hawks was perched high in the leafless catalpa tree in my neighbor’s yard calling over and over this morning. It was much too far away for me to take a picture so here's one from the internet. 

image via: https://www.republicaneagle.com

Well, it finally happened. Cat fell into the old turtle pond. She goes out in the morning and jumps up on the rim of the pond and then would leap over to the small platform in the middle that Big Mama would sun herself on. With no turtle I moved two of the water plants that were in separate containers into the pond and coupled with the one that was in there, they have grown to cover the entire surface of the water and even cascading over the rim in one spot and completely covering the platform. Didn’t stop Cat from jumping up onto the rim frog hunting. The pond is only half full right now, so much having evaporated from the drought and I keep telling myself I need to add water. So Thursday morning I opened the door to the little backyard and let Cat out and went to take my shower. Passing back through the room I noticed a big wet spot on the table and wet spots on the floor and on my desk. What the fuck? And then I saw Cat, her legs and belly soaked. I surmise she either slipped or miscalculated her leap to the rim and landed in the pond on top of the water plants which kept her from going completely under. Obviously she managed to get herself out.

The Moonlight Market at Hesed House was last night from 5 pm to 9 pm. I took my new work over there Friday; two more framed watercolors, the watercolor notes cards, three of which I cut the painting from and placed in free standing magnetic acrylic frames which added to the previous printed notecards, framed larger prints, and the two framed watercolors they already have. 

Besides their regular venders in the Market, they had 22 booth spaces for other local artists/craftspeople on the grounds lining the walkways, lots of extra lights, coffee vendor set up in the Art House, and a beer vendor on the grounds, barbecue and taco food trucks, live music on the deck behind the Welcome Center and indoor market. Sarah came and picked me up and we got there about 5:30 and there were already so many people there. We looked at all the stuff…jewelry ranging from silver wire to beads to clever little designs made from plastic clay to old silver flatware; scrollwork of clever little boxes with drawers and trays, snowflake ornaments, wood puzzles, and the ever present crosses; some very clever candles made to look like cookies or candy or succulents or fruit loops floating in milk with a spoon and I can’t remember what all; bread and other baked goods; organic body products; paintings and other art; succulent pots made from a mix of cement, paper, ground up wood, and I don’t remember what all he said was in the mix; pottery; hydroponic lettuces and micro greens; bedding plants; cut flowers; some leather work; I don’t remember what else but it was a very well curated assortment. We stayed until about 7:30. It was a fun evening with my daughter, someone who I don’t get to spend much one on one time with. Did I take any pictures? No, of course not.

We finally got a little rain and by little I mean that literally. One small brief shower Friday afternoon and one small brief shower yesterday morning amounting to about a quarter inch total, maybe but it was enough to clear the air and damp down the dust for now. I took Minnie to the vet last Thursday about the chewing and scratching and licking and she needed her nails trimmed anyway. So, yeah, fleas. She got a shot for the itching and a chewy for the fleas which also prevent heartworms and intestinal parasites which I gave her when we got home and thought she had eaten it but when I got up Friday morning, there it was on the floor where she had spit it out. Dog! It took me three tries putting it in her mouth before she finally chewed it up and swallowed it. I guess it wasn’t very tasty. Anyway, all that nonsense has stopped and she no longer has to wear her shirt.

Also Friday I got the first 8 pounds of pecans cracked so shelling in the evenings is what I’ll be doing for the foreseeable future until I get enough shelled to share with friends and for our own consumption for the year+ (in case next year has a paltry harvest). 

Whatever is left I’ll sell including all the ones I pick up over in the shop yard from the neighbor’s trees that overhang the fence between us.

One more thing. There are three north/south roads that go all the way through Wharton. The one on the west and the one on the east extend past Wharton in both directions, the one in the middle extends from my neighborhood on the north side to the river on the south side. This middle road, I use often and on it has been a house with a big Trump sign on the fence since before the election. Driving by Friday I noticed that the sign is no longer there. I have no idea why, if a different person now resides in that house, but perhaps it’s the same person who has become disillusioned. Personally I hope that this is one more indication that Trump is losing his support even in small agricultural communities in Texas.