Some Mornings

Some mornings are just like that…

Some mornings, I get up and the sun is shining and the birds are singing, and the William Tell Overture is floating softly through the hills.

Like in this video:

But some mornings things go awry right from the get-go.

Like this morning when I heard the baby waking up and I promptly went to the kitchen to prepare a delicious wholesome bottle for the child. I would let the bottle warm while I went to his room to greet him, William Tell emanating from the very earth around us. I would change his diaper and freshen his bottom before he had a chance to fret. He would smile at his daddy. I would smile back. He would smile again.

I pulled the bottle out of the fridge and in one swift motion the damn thing slipped from my grasp and propelled itself toward the floor like a Grade-A-Vitamin-D-Added-Homogenized Kamikaze!

“Oh, fffffffffffudge!!!!!!”

“Only I didn’t say fudge. I said THE word. The big one. The queen mother of dirty words. The F-dash-dash-dash word.”

Like this:

I threw up my hands in defeat. Then I threw in the towel. Literally. Hell, I threw in multiple towels.

The baby? Oh, he went back to sleep for another hour.

I don’t blame him.

This situation reminds me of “Super Moist Fat Tuesday.” Incidentally, I have a migraine as I did that day too. Spilling copious amounts of liquids must be a migraine symptom. I’m good at it, apparently.

What Stage Are You?

Mr. Stinky

In a dream. Possibly at work.

I enter a room in which many people are milling about.

A guy says to me, “Sam, what stage are you?”

Me: “What stage am I?”

Guy: “Yes. Your cancer. What stage?”

Me: “Uh… I don’t have cancer.”

Guy: “Well, you are giving off such an odor that we all assumed you had cancer.”

Me: “No. It’s just a tooth that’s bothering me.”

Guy: “Hey, everybody! It’s not cancer. He just has a tooth bothering him.”

He walked away. No one else spoke to me.

I do have a tooth that’s bothering me. But I don’t think it’s giving off an odor. If there’s an odor, it’s because I need a shower. But it’s not at stage 4 level. Maybe stage 2.

Why wouldn’t people talk to me in that dream?

The Place is Lousy with Beavers

Two beaver lodges (foreground and background)

While hiking at Mahlon Dickerson Reservation today, I spotted two beaver lodges that I hadn’t noticed before. They are in a location that I always pass when hiking or running here. I just never noticed them before. I think I noticed them this time because the vegetation is getting much greener. I stepped off the trail closer to the water to get a better look. This watery area was more extensive than I realized. When I’m running these trails I guess I’m focused on the ground so I don’t trip on a rock or a root and bust my skull. I need to stop and smell the beaver lodges more often.

I’m not sure if these lodges are still inhabited. I didn’t see any signs of recent beaver activity along the banks of the water. The usual signs include small trees gnawed off and bark chewed off of larger trees. All I noticed was a large tree that had been chewed sometime in the past, as you can see below. Maybe the beavers abandoned this one lodge and set up house in the more remote lodge away from all the tourists.

Where have all the beavers gone?

Beavers are amazing creatures. Lots of creatures gather and transport various materials to build nests and dens. But beavers take it to another level. They are quite industrious indeed. That’s a lot of work to cut down trees and haul them through the water. “Busy as a beaver” sure is an apt phrase. I’d love to spend a day hiding in beaver territory observing them going about their business.

For more on beavers in this area, see my video: “Beavers at Saffin Pond.”