Didn't I just write in my last blog post that LC and I were going to begin saying no to the needy, overbearing and dysfunctional who live in this tiny-town-with-too-much-drama?
The elderly lady who lost her husband early this year finally sold her home.
For months LC and I have helped her to research, organize and sell a lifetime worth of belongings, and now that she has finally sold her home in preparation for moving on to the next phase of her life, she (and we) are getting down to the wire.
Lots more researching, lots more selling, lots more organizing, lots more packing, and then eventually loading and sending her on her way.
We can't say no.
I wish we could, but we can't.
I need to go.
Somewhere.
Anywhere.
Some place away from here. Away from couples who don't get along with each other. Substance abusers who cannot function like normal human beings. Constant drama from people who are old enough to stop with the drama. An old lady who needs us because...........she just does.
Someplace with trees everywhere I look, and water, and the crispness of fall.
Someplace to paddle my kayak.
Someplace to watch LC happily throwing out a fishing line, and caring not whether he catches anything.
Someplace soon I hope..................
We are now in the middle of very cool and very damp weather.
I love it and am completely ready for it.
I would never have imagined that constant heat and constant and never changing blue sky would be depressing, but it can be.
Maybe it is the Norwegian blood.
Maybe its that I am a menopausal woman.
Regardless of the reason, I woke this morning to strong winds, grey skies, and buttes covered down to the ground with cloud cover.
And I smiled.
It was a most welcome sight..............
These pictures were taken just a couple of days ago, late in the evening as I was walking with Kory.
It was still too early for sunset pictures, but the sun was already beginning to lower on the horizon and the shadows were long.
It was cooler at this time in the early evening, and the coolness was welcome after a very hot day.
The sky was completely cloudless and unbearably blue.
I turned the corner at the far end of town and the sun shone brilliantly.
It was a beautiful time of day..................
Walking around the corner we picked up one more street and then quickly turned right, picking up yet one more gravel road.
We have all of two miles of roads in total, in Atomic City.
Deep in thought, Kory noticed them before I did, and I looked up in surprise when I felt the unexpected tug on her leash.
A small herd of deer at the end of the road.
They were quietly grazing and I stopped moving for a minute, as they looked up startled by our unexpected presence.
Pulling Kory closer to me I locked her leash and then slowly began walking again.
There were a couple of does and three young fawns - a set of twins and one other.
It is SO good to see them back.
They were gone for six months and I missed them in town very much.
This group of five have been traveling together for a while now, but there are other deer floating around town alone or in pairs. And of course, there are three bucks who we see occasionally out on BLM land just outside of town (and in town - including our own back yard after dark).
Kory (thankfully) wants nothing to do with them, although she is mesmerized by them.
She has been chased by does twice (including once in our back yard) and that has scared her.
And I'm glad....................
Click on any picture to enlarge and begin a slide show..................
As we got closer they disappeared into the yard to the right in the pictures, ran through the front yard, jumped the white picket fence and then disappeared behind the adjoining house.
I cannot look at the white picket fence anymore without worrying about the deer.
A month ago the home owners told me a horrifying story of a young doe impaling herself on the fence.
The family was not home at the time, but when they arrived home they found a partially skinned and impaled young deer hanging from that picket fence.
As I watched the young herd run through the yard I held my breath as each easily cleared the fence and then continued on.
The smallest and youngest fawn was the last one left in the yard and I silently willed her not to follow the four others. Don't jump it baby, it's too high for you. Don't jump it baby, it's too high for you.
There was a hole in the fence and after hesitating for a moment she scooted through the hole.
Breathing a sign of relief I looked down at my dog, rubbed her ears and called her to move along with our walk....................
ATVers heading out onto BLM land..................
Big Butte and the desert bathed in sunshine................
10 minutes after seeing the herd of five, we ran into these little guys happily grazing on a lawn.
I know these two little things.
The first time I saw them was a couple of months ago, and they were sitting together in a back yard in the shade of a tree.
Immediately I stopped moving, surprised to see them as I always am, and I watched them for a few moments wondering where their mother was.
They were too little to be by themselves.
Within a couple of minutes I had my answer, and I smiled inwardly as I watched them speed across the road, effortlessly jump the metal fence of a neighboring property and 4-foot jump over to their mother.
She was close.
On this day they were alone. A little older and still traveling together, but still seemingly too young to make their way safely through the upcoming long winter.
They watched Kory and I for a few moments, pulled their ears back, turned, and bounded out of Dodge............
As soon as we returned home I opened the door that led to the back yard and watched as Kory sprinted to her swimming pool.
We picked up a kids hard plastic pool early in the summer. It is bright pink and complete with seahorse graphics and we thought that she would like to play in it once the weather got hot.
Surprisingly she never sat down in it, but she has spent the entire summer stepping in it and using it as the towns biggest doggie watering dish.
And the deer seem to be well hydrated these days..........
After she had gotten a long drink I looked around me, in search of the noise.
It was almost dark by this time and LC and I followed the hoots until we found where they were coming from.
We had thought that there was only one owl in our trees, but as we stood watching this beautiful guy we heard hoots coming from behind us as well.
There were two - in trees close to each other in the yard - and the two owls were talking to each other.
By the time I thought to dig out my camera it was almost completely dark, and this is the only picture that even remotely turned out.
But they were wonderful to see.....................
Pictures taken about a month ago.
Unexpected flowers unexpectedly showed up in the front corner of our yard.
They're gone for the season now, but will come back next year and will spread, and that is very good................
Kory has happily spent the entire summer chasing rabbits all over BLM land and all over the yard.
And she has happily killed a few for her efforts as well.
As we were walking on BLM land in back of town a few weeks ago she made a dive for something just off the trail.
The sage brush was tall so I couldn't tell what she was after, but whatever it was, she was excited.
A small bird suddenly appeared from out of the sage and hopped over to the trail.
Kory followed her.
I watched as the bird hopped along the trail, and was surprised that Kory simply followed behind it, sometimes touching her nose to the bird but not hurting it.
It didn't fly away and I wondered if something was wrong with its wings.
For a long time it continued to hop along the trail with Kory in tow, and then it hopped off the trail and came to a rest against an old section of fence.
Kory stayed with it, continued to sniff it and touch her nose to it, but didn't hurt it.
I watched her closely as I walked by the pair, and after a few minutes called my dog to me.
My goofy dog happily sprinted up to me and we continued with our walk, with me wondering what was wrong with little bird, and wondering why little dog had not taken a bite out of little bird................
On this day the mountains were "out" - silently guarding the entrance to the Lost River Valley............
A look back towards town and the Twin Buttes, while walking trails.............
Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul...
but I must confess that I love you only because you are a prelude to my
beloved October............Peggy Toney Horton
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