Come on, Izzlebug! You can do this!

Taking a master's level course, even on line, can be quite challenging. I finally managed to bridge the mind fog and do some thinking, a task not to be sneered at, and to get, and keep, caught up for the second week of class. I now have two very lengthy articles to read and one short critique to write before tomorrow at midnight. I will also be helping my nephew with his paper which has suddenly become a more intense situation as the due date has been moved up! I know from past experience that we will get all of this done but in the midst of it, everything feels too hectic, too pressured. We have survived worse.

The computer desk sits in a small patch of sunlight which, at least today, is not too hot. I look out the window at our forest/back yard and think of all the life and activity that must be happening out there, but see little evidence of it save for the still very green foliage of the most determined of our bushes, grasses, and young trees. It's lovely to gaze upon but hell on the septic system. Tit for tat, I guess.

Last night I saw some of our bats eating the last of this seasons bugs and mosquitoes and wondered where bats go in the winter time. I really don't know, so I will try to find out. It seems like my brain wants to explode sometimes because of all of the stuff I keep cramming into it but then I discover some seemingly trivial little something I cannot recall ever having known anything about and it makes the burden, although not insignificant, seem so small somehow. It may not be too important to world history to know where bats spend their winters, but it is important to the bats and, now, I would like to know, too.

My dream yard, if I ever realize it, will include bat houses and butterfly houses, as well as squirrel feeding stations so they will (hopefully) not munch the baby birds. I will also have fodder for hummingbirds and insect eaters, as well as all of the native species that seem to thrive on seeds, suet, and air. There will also be bathing stations for the more hygenically minded avian friends, and glass viewing balls just for the fun of it. Roses, roses, roses, all fragrant varieties, lilacs, lilacs, lilacs in every possible hue of white, pink and lavender, spring bulbs -every imaginable kind and color - and a cutting garden. Perhaps even a bee hive or two, but that will depend on how well able to care for them I am at the time.

My favorite birds are the ones most likely to winter over in this area as long as we can provide them with food and water; juncos and chickadees and cardinals, sparrows and bluejays and starlings. Spring will bring the return of the bright golden finches, orioles, and robins with their polished red breasts. These are the more usual residents of our yard during the course of a year, along with the feisty little red squirrel that has occupied the white pines out in front for several years now. He controls the grey squirrel incursions into the yard, but does not seem to have a lot to say about chipmunks, which tend to stay on the ground, in their burrows, and up our drain pipes. I strongly suspect we house most, if not all, of these creatures for the winter in our attic unless we just have extremely loud and heavy mice who do invite themselves in during the inclement weather. I think I may have even seen a very small rat at one time, but am hoping it is not a species that has decided to join our little social circle here.

There have been times when the "wildlife" indoors has competed for our attention with that in the yard. We have had incursions of book-eating beetles, clothes-munching moths, very fat, comfortable mice in places mice should not even know about, various molds and mildews, and Heaven only knows what we have yet to discover! I suppose I should consider it merely being a part of the food chain, etc. but, this year, if those mice eat anything else of mine I am calling in a rodent hit person and taking the little buggers out! (Or, at least, the hit person will.)

Such is the current cycle of life at mouse/moth/mold/bug/rodent/bird/etc. central.

As Summer passes into Autumn I still find myself longing for a vegetable garden and a kitchen and storage area sufficient for dealing with all of the wonderful and fresh produce I long to have at my fingertips. My Grandmother once let me keep a small garden at her house and it was so rewarding to have pie pumpkins, golden acorn squashes, pickling cucumbers and big, blue Hubbard squashes to keep and to share. No other vegetables ever tasted quite so satisfyingly good and I am convinced the efforts put into the growing and preparing of them boosted the nutritional value, too. She also taught me to can vegetables, make pickles and jams and jellies and so much more. My Grandmother and a vegetable garden will always remain juxtaposed in my mind for the rest of my life. She also shared her banana bread recipe with me and taught me how to knit and crochet, all of which seemed very important at the time and that still bring a great deal of satisfaction to me today.

If anything should happen to still the machines that now make our clothing and pre-prepare all of our food, I know I will at least have the knowledge to survive and to pass on to anyone else who may be interested in learning how it all was handled before the industrial age landed upon humanity. I only hope I get to learn to spin and weave before I am too old to really enjoy learning those two skills. There is something extremely satisfying in knowing how to get a thing done even when there is no need or opportunity to use such skills. Knowledge is power, so maybe I feel powerful knowing these things, I really cannot say for certain, but the satisfaction of knowing is certainly tangible to me in the present tense.

Perhaps it is just the onset of harvest weather that has directed all of these thoughts, just as it has created within me a certain mild melancholy. I will probably go looking for an apple orchard with short trees that is proximal to a pumpkin field so I can indulge in my "Autumnal Mania" for a day. That seems to be the likely "cure" for this particular ailment and it will also be delicious for the next week or so, as we consume the fruits of my very mild labors.