Last evening, after supper and our Solitaire losses, after Kathryn’s shower and her being tucked into bed, after Clara had been settled for the night in her special chair with her blankets just the way she likes them, I got up from where I was sitting and reading between them and quietly eased my way over to the light above Kathryn’s bed and clicked it from its lower setting to the OFF position.

As I had side-stepped between Kathryn’s bed and the wall, and scooted around the end of her bed, I found Clara smiling at me as I reclaimed my chair, our heads now quite close together.

You stay sometimes until we’re both asleep, don’t you?

Yes.

Do I snore?

No, I’ve not heard you.

Well, I wondered. You can’t hear yourself if you are asleep and no one is going to tell you.

I snore; Kathryn snores.

People ask me if it doesn’t bother me that she snores and I tell them ‘No, it makes me feel comfortable that she’s sleeping and I know she’s okay.’

Clara and I smiled at each other and then I sat back down for a few more minutes and watched the last of the daylight fade from the window and soon heard Kathryn snoring and Clara breathing evenly. I left, turning at the door to look back at two ladies who have shown me grace and wisdom.

We had some friends-to-be knocking on our backdoor, seeking sanctuary with our pasture. The little red-striped legged folks here open the door and welcome them in, because along with peanut butter, they really like ice cream. I must be honest, it is just not their craving for the iced treat that motivates them; I’m certain they also are filled with the milk of human kindness.

I suppose some think those who wear red and white striped socks are strange . . . you know, the old fuddy duddies, but it has served a good purpose since our moo friends have heard the quote: I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

Well, enough of that for an introduction. I was going to picture two newcomers, but the resolution on one of the pictures did not suit me so I will today just show you two pictures of the same new grazer and tomorrow you may meet Wild and Wooly.

This is Chubb Cow. Alison showed up with her yesterday morning and put her in my care. It’s kind of hard to capture her essence in a photo – but here are two attempts.

What you can do with numbers and statistics . . . sigh, sigh and sigh. I haven’t written about global warming and I’m not doing so now. I’m writing on something disturbing in the presentation of a supposed news article. THIS ONE. That would be the one that starts off with these paragraphs:

Scientists are more convinced that human activity is behind the increase in global temperatures since the 1950s, which has boosted sea levels and the odds of extreme storms, according to a leaked draft of an upcoming U.N. report.

“It is extremely likely that human influence on climate caused more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010,” according to a summary of the draft obtained by CNN. “There is high confidence that this has warmed the ocean, melted snow and ice, raised global mean sea level and changed some climate extremes in the second half of the 20th century.”

Those conclusions come from the upcoming report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the fifth in a series of multiyear reports seen as a benchmark on the subject. The panel’s last report, in 2007, concluded that it was 90% certain that rising temperatures were due to human activity; the new draft raises that figure to 95%.

That’s my red to point of that if we are in a period of climate change, then about half of it is do to something other than human influence. However, this is not stressed; what the writer and editor emphasis is the 90-95% certainty factor. I think we will see this repeated. This is wrong; it is an insult to science.

Consider this scenario: Let’s say of all surgery deaths, over half are caused by incompetent surgeons. Now if you stress the idea that there is a 95% chance that this is right – not mentioning that the percentage applies to only 50% of the whole –  you are going to get people to assume that if their surgeon is one of the best, their odds of surviving surgery are close to perfect. You would be putting the close to 50% chance of dying into very small print.

It seems to me that for years some have been claiming that humans ARE responsible for global warming, period. Now, in reality, they are saying that humans are responsible for half. One might wonder if they actually are backing away from the initial all inclusive claim.

The gummy worms were accompanied by a Gummy Octopus bag:

As you can see, the bag announced a new look to the little guys – the fellows so gifted to be shoplifters if only there wasn’t the water issue. These two are on top of my Kindle; having a lot of arms makes it easy to turn pages . . . Oh! Silly, Silly me. There are no actual pages.

And here is the coup d’grace:

Yes, from Rose’s on special place. She’s not really hiding in the bag. In fact, it isn’t even our own Wild, Wonderful Rose; she is visiting at the Ohio Redoubt so she asked a friend to be a hair double.

I am an eclectic framer. I have framed menus and vintage magazine ads and even on of the old Banana Republic Safari Bags. I think I’m going to frame this one because there’s nothing like having a wild rose on your wall.

I called a repairman yesterday and was lucky to have him come, even though it made his day long. He couldn’t get the door open and he said, “This is a really old one.” I told him I was old as well. Someone was supposed to try this morning but they didn’t show, so it was time to tell the chunky from the creamy.

I got the door open with a state of the art tool I will not mention because it would reveal why someone’s shirt is wrinkled up on the floor of the closet.

I guess if I knew the repairman were actually coming, I could bake him a cake.

I have called an emergency repairman and he thought he could come, but I am thinking maybe he can’t. I have worked most of the day trying to get my oven door to open. I have thrown the circuit breaker and put my hand down into the den of electrical death, looking to manually spring the latch. (I took a picture of the electrode placement of those I had to unhook in able to get my hand in there.) I have used high tech coat hangers and ALL SORTS OF THINGS AND IT WON’T OPEN AND I AM GOING TO PANIC AND I CAN’T EVEN PUT MY HEAD IN THE OVEN . . . but then it’s not gas anyway.

Now I could start removing screws but I really, really think that is not wise. I mean I already had to take out two to expose the lock mechanism.

Maybe I will sit down and try holding my breath and . . . I think the reviews on this technique are good, however.

Some time after five this morning, I started to dream – very vividly and so realistically that I thought in my dream, “This can’t be a dream so I had better get used to what is going on.” I also at one point thought, “If I am going to wake up, this would be a good time.” Finally I did, but it was a slow climbing out of a deep boot-sucking ravine of grogginess. I can remember snatches of the nightmare and that is actually more than I want to recall. I suppose it was constructed out of my symbolized deepest worries and fears. I never did like symbolism. But, at least, it is over. I think. I have had instances in which I have “awoken” from one dream into another . . . and that is crushingly terrifying or disheartening.

Everything is in physical disarray around me; see, you can hide a lot in vocabulary: everything is MESSY. And after my nightmare, I embrace the messiness – the wonderful, wonderful clutter.

The birthday box from LZP came today. I was going to post these pictures before but I had to go Albion to the courthouse to get a notary from the tax office because the State of Texas will not accept a regular notary public at the bank. Here in Indiana, we just sign over the car title . . . Then I went to the post office to mail it.

I’m going to make a video of the birthday card tomorrow. It really deserves a video.

Just part of the contents

And, of course, the hat. Der Bingle wants me to wear it when I play Solitaire at the nursing home . . . You know, Card Sharknado.

You will notice the gummy worm package is OPEN for eating.
THANKS TO LZP AND SAMBO

I would have said Summer had a good day at school if I had posted yesterday, but I was in the backyard with the firepit and Shane and two of his blasted Wubbas.

I lifted this photo from someone else’s blog. It’s around three years old and the little girl is now five. It’s titled D____ in Action and her image makes me smile with its spunk and zest for life. She started first grade yesterday. I think she’s going to have a grand time and I know her teachers and classmates now and to come will feel themselves fortunate to share her journey.