TubaOrNotTuba

We tend to forget that nature is just one big performance with millions of actors on stage. Today the star of its own show or the tiny jungle who by accident had discovered the wonder of the mirror. Not just one mirror many mirrors. There were cars and each one came with its own tiny stage. There she was in front of the mirror again and again chirping and preening as only a bird can do. The pity is that the mirror does not hold a record of the performance and we may have to get a movie camera to capture some of these moments for posterity. After all we humans have all the good toys. Outside the foxes have discovered that there are more than one dog to tease. Again a performance. When the dog spots the fox, the fox giggles and goes around in a big circle and comes back. I wonder if the dog realizes how outclassed he really is. Myself I’m still trying to come to and understanding of this whole record my blog by voice. I do not see the words but they do appearance on the page apparently. And so I talk until I hope that I’ve met my goal. Often there is no way to tell until the very end and so this is become like nature an ongoing performance.

We had a busy afternoon here in the house. A lot of movement. A lot of loud voices. And for the record no humans were involved. This was a canine afternoon. Four dogs including a puppy. The movement never stopped until it would for a power nap. If one spoke they all spoke. All take took was to see if a vehicle moving in the yard and the song was off. Great fun though and if you did not pay attention you got a big slobber on the lips to bring you back into line. That’s how dogs keep you on their side. Sure there was a little bit of finger biting or nipping or trying to swallow I’m not sure which. Dogs don’t talk that much when it comes to humans. But it was an interesting afternoon for all involved. I could have gone to town to shop for sea glass jewelry or check out the amateur radio display. I did neither. After all the dogs require someone to be there with them to make sure that all goes well in their world. Try to imagine the stress of an empty water dish. Or forgotten treat. In fact one dog made it her job to be sure that no treats were forgotten in any corners of the room over and over again that’s how dogs take care of things.

Really one of the changes over time in my life is that I celebrate summer in another manner. I have developed the deck near our kitchen into the equivalent of an aerodrom. Call it the flight of the bumblebees. More and more family members and friends come to see us with their drones. We live a long way from an airport which means that there are many restrictions that do not affect us. If  you unbox your drone and go up you can see from here to the Point. A great view on a sunny day. As long as the wind doesn’t come up you can spend your time becoming an expert good scenery. We do not own a drone yet although it has been discussed. I would not be able to do the piloting but I get always give good advice. We’ll see what happens. Outside we are waiting on the moon. And low tide. Actually several days away but we will get there because people want to go and look for wildlife on the beach not wild life. Not parties. Just good old wildlife like in the old days. I learned that this area many centuries ago was a place to hunt sea lions. None here now but they do find bones up in the dunes. More reason to carry a shovel when I’m out walking around. Or bring a dog that does good bone find. The dogs right now are too small but give them time they will grow

I think that nature is becoming more vicious. I live in a place where almost nothing is dangerous except for the sea. However one of the family members seems to have discovered that the deer fly is much more dangerous than she. The first bite seemed simple enough. Yes there was swelling about the size of a golf ball but that happens. When two days later she received a second bite and it also swelled up like a golf ball we had to assume that something was different in our lives so I did a quick inventory. We have no venomous snakes we have no dangerous bugs we have no dangerous wildlife unless you count the skunk. But something as simple as a deer fly bite can become more of a challenge. I actually heard a discussion about whether or not we would need a trip to the local hospital which closed in 57 minutes. We also don’t have hospitals to stay open all the time so you have to check your calendar and your clock before you head out. Not exactly big city living is it? We have company that does not speak our language. And so today there were great experiments using technology. Trying to find a common denominator by using an iPhone and an app. I now know much more about foxes than before because that seems to be the most interesting subject. Should I blame the three foxes that are sitting outside the window watching us? That might be it. The warm weather is back with a vengeance. I think we’re going into full-sized summer just as the company starts to roll in. I have not been checking my calendar because I have others to do that for me but there will be more family here within the week. Great rejoicing. Singing of old family songs. No that is no how it works; we will simply catch up on being in the same room as each other after a year or so of distance. We’re getting old I guess when the conversation turns to whether or not you will break your leg if you fall. You know you are not in familiar territory.

Time for a confession. Of the personal nature. I am not particularly hirsute. If you do not know the word get a dictionary. It means that my beard takes a very long time to become presentable. As near as I can tell if I had started as a boy it would not yet be to the point where people would paint it in a photograph. However I do have to shave from time to time just to remain presentable. No hiding in the woods for me. The hair is not thick just annoying to others. As I hear often. You did not shave today. No nor yesterday nor the day before. I wonder what would happen if I just let it go. For the next quarter century. Will it ever grow long enough to make it to the point where people would say Oh yes he has a lovely beard. I am doubtful. As someone in the background murmurs yeah. Of course I could always buy a beard and paste it on if I had the need. Or wear face mask a ski mask something similar. I have not yet started to do any of those things. I just go from day-to-day hoping no one will notice. Of course, I do wear my hair long. I can hide my face with that if ever the need arises. Or I can just stay inside in the dark realizing that I am almost invisible. Choices for the upcoming century. Maybe if the hair grew thicker on my feet I could pretend to be a Hobbit.

Another afternoon session of trying to decide what this object might be. In the pile a small cover with a solar panel and a separate plastic disk of a certain size. They were packaged together which meant they probably had origins from the same day and I had to try and remember what this might be. And then it came to me when I first bought the weather station it needed ventilation. So, I bought the ventilation kit. Required more power and a new mounting point. I installed the new equipment put the old equipment into a box and promptly forgot about it for another decade. Why do we do these things? I know why in my case. Hard to throw away something that might still be required a week down the way. Except, the week turns into months and then turns into years. Will I continue to keep these pieces around? I do not know. A small solar panel is always fun and who knows when you’ll need small plastic disc. As I say time marches on. We are waiting for the next round of visitors. Do as early as tomorrow afternoon if all goes according to plan. Not a big group. In this case four adults two dogs and a Jeep. Not much room left for extras. I will have to find the cords we used to tie dogs outside. And make sure that the beds are ready for visitors. I did sit outside at two points this afternoon hoping to spot the foxes I did not but that does not mean they were not watching me that’s how they roll.

I wonder how I ever learned to laugh. When I was a child comedy was rare; nothing from my parents nor my siblings. I have my own funny bone that hardly count has humor. We did have a television with a single station populated for the main part by detectives and doctors and people on horseback. Cowboys. Much ado about nothing. However there was that one man I think they called him Red. He dressed oddly. He had a whole menagerie of characters. I was particularly drawn to Gertrude and Heathcliff which apparently were seagulls and I knew seagulls. They weren’t funny but his were. I think you can still watch him if you look around the Net. My textbooks in school again had nothing. We knew a lot about math and world geography and countries that we would never visit but no laughter, no jokes, even the teachers seemed to be devoid of laughter. Those were sadder times I guess.

Along the way I have heard a certain axiom that says that if you practice enough you too can master an instrument. The statement is often that all you need is 10,000 hours of practice. So I’ve decided to give my own take on this. I will listen to a good video of someone playing and say to myself:  there but for the missing 10,000 of hours of practice go I. It makes me feel better because I’ve had a lifetime to become a master of an instrument. And I haven’t with rare exceptions. I have some guitars around here that I can fiddle with and then I can make do little things but I am far from being a star in any context. I blame that on my guitar teacher when I was 10 years old. Now if you count the hours since then I’ve had time. I just have not put the effort into it. I guess I am doomed to listen to videos and keep reassuring myself after all they’ve already done it why couldn’t I. I was outside a little earlier with some dog biscuits and the shadow appeared on the lawn still. So I threw a biscuit and I saw the shadow flash away towards the trees but not before I heard the snick snick snick a very tiny sharp teeth taking the biscuit as a souvenir of the visit. My own dog used to come and get the biscuits but never with such finesse. And for those that are worried with my upsetting the environment I sometimes throw a single or double pair of very cheap dog biscuits out on the lawn and someone else picks them up. No great conversation between us although I have heard a single bark more often just a flash as the tail and the head move in harmony towards the tree line. I love living in the country. I also spent some more time learning about life in the coal mining districts of well the South. Listening to someone who’s worked for more than 30 years underground in the worst of conditions and he’s proud because he is now making close to $60,000 a year in return for a 66 hour work week. He doesn’t mention his training time he just says well I should have done better in school I guess. He does mention that disease is now at his doorstep but he refuses to wear a mask against coal dust because the mask gets plugged up with dust it makes it hard to breathe. There might be something in that to give you a better sign of what you’re doing. I mean since you can’t actually see what’s going on in the darkness.

Time to make a plan A and Plan B for the fall I’m looking at different concert series some in the southern United States which seems highly unlikely others in Nova Scotia. We could actually go to the fall festival in Cape Breton. Sleep in parking lots. Eat salads. Listen to concerts although I have not yet checked out the program. Just a thought. What triggered this was listening to a historical series about how music came to Appalachia. I know very little about Appalachia but my news feed has been full of stories where people who worked in the minds and died. So sad. We have nothing like that around here. In this part of the world we go to see. Where you can also die but there’s no coal involved. And the music is the same wherever you go. As I say we still need to work up a plan A and a Plan B. Right now Nova Scotia is going through some bad floods on the roads. I do not want to see that of clothes and I wonder if the roads will be repaired come autumn. It actually has been raining hard here since before dawn. I had gone out to sleep in the RV because it was so calm and peaceful and the pitter patter of rain on the roof was just background music. But for this afternoon we have a lot of water. I keep hearing the sump pump turn on and off which is a good sign and a bad sign. It means if I was to go walk in the woods I would probably need a boat. We still have our houseguest. She’s a walking and I imagine she’s very wet right now. Dad it’s been a quiet day for me. Setting in the half dark listening to videos. My life in this year. I keep thinking that I need to find a musical instrument and then drive myself to produce. Has not happened recently because it is so distracting to have to look for my fingers might be. I need to get back to where it’s simply second nature