dugout

 No precious moments were dredged from my memory today, instead the story of a strange man clawed its way out of the tar pit. 

~

It happened when I was 7 during summer vacation on one of those carefree days that seem to stretch into eternity. I was horse crazy even then and rode around the base where we lived, my bicycle standing in for a four-footed steed. There was nowhere that my blue pony wouldnˋt take me and I ranged far and wide.

One morning I ended up near an old baseball field so I dropped my bike and went to investigate. The dark shadows of a dugout caught my attention - stepping down into the cavern the smell of old urine clogged my nose and as my eyes adjusted to the dark a man stepped out of the shadows, his pants down. I remember staring for a moment and then turning to run, his image forever seared into my brain.

I got outta there fast and probably peddled hard until I was in more familiar territory. Was I in danger? I donˋt know. I may have just interrupted some strange man with a fetish for baseball or maybe he followed me there, Iˋll never know. 

I donˋt remember it affecting me much as I probably just chalked it up to experience and I certainly didnˋt tell my parents as I knew enough that my bike riding would be curtailed. I remember stopping at home for lunch, sitting at the table, my feet dangling, and eating a peanut butter sandwich. But that might have been another day.

~

The weather has continued to be hot and humid, a final blast of summer. Of course it means lots of dips into the pool and dinners of salads with pan fried meats. I made the tastiest chicken breasts the other day: first they were cut into cutlets, then pan-fried in a mixture of butter and garlic olive oil. When they were done I set them aside and added more garlic and a dollop of cream. In just a few minutes the tasty sauce was completed. Easy and a new favorite!

I think we harvested our last zucchini :-(  Next year when we plant the plants from the nursery weˋll toss a few seeds in as well for a staged approach. I want more zucchini bread! I saw an interesting recipe with nuts and dried cranberries. And I saw an interesting recipe that includes garlic, lemon, thyme, basil, walnuts and zucchini.

We gave a try at clipping Spike a few days ago but he was almost hysterical so I gave him ¼ tablet of trazadone and waited for it to take effect. It did the trick (mostly) but gosh he was stoned for almost 2 days. Luckily we had a vet appointment for something else so I was able to talk to Dr. Cardi about it. Weˋve got another drug to try if ⅛ of a tablet doesnˋt work. Poor little guy!

Awesome!

“makeshift outdoor showers”

“garlic”

“Adia doing the zoomies in the field”

“walking through acres of wildflowers”