Mid-Winter Report

The storm is upon us. Everyone else in the Maritimes has been experiencing a storm today except for us but it has now started here. My sister in law and I were sitting at my kitchen table an hour ago when the first snowflake fell and within a half hour we were in the midst of a blizzard.

I'm fully prepared. I finally woke up with my normal amount of energy and went grocery shopping so there's lots of food. I should be doing some chores as we speak here, dividing bulk items for freezing, getting started on supper etc. but I am here with you. I'm having Mexican tonight and once I get everything prepped, everything's easy. I had a visit, as I said, and two long distance phone calls while putting the groceries away so the kitchen jobs are a little behind.

It was very pretty on my drive to get groceries. There was frost on some trees and I stopped for a few shots. It's been pretty here on the Island, with the winter beauty shining through, and tomorrow I'm sure there will be more snow and more 'pretty.'

Great White Nothing by Kim Barlow is a song I really like and have posted before. It's the first song I thought of for this post. Another way to go would be to choose the music for Mexican food. The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, is a band with the Mexican food covered and tonight's storm too. Late in the Evening which you know from Paul Simon and Salsa Pa'l Bailador will fit the bill quite nicely.

Monsieur Fox

Yesterday my sister-in-law dropped in for a bit of a Friday Happy Hour. While we were sitting at the kitchen table, a fox who often drops by, came into the yard then onto the deck. I took my camera and went outside. He went back down to the yard, stood staring for a minute then laid down, as relaxed as could be.



I began softly talking to him, telling me that he'd better be a good fox and leave my kitties alone. Kenz was under the deck and thought I was talking to her. She came onto the deck and I picked her up. Fox's ears pricked up and I said that this was Kenz and he'd better be nice to her, that she was not a dinner item. I took Kenz into the house and came back outside. I snapped and snapped photos and he stood up and came back onto the deck with me standing there. My camera kept snapping.

After a while my sister-in-law came out. That frightened him a bit and he went down onto the grass. Sis-in-law suggested that if I didn't want him around I should yell or throw something at him to discourage him. She picked up the piece of pine branch that's visible behind the fox in the photo below and threw it. He ran over to it, thinking she had thrown food. He seemed to take the hint then and left, walking toward the pond.

Sis-in-law left then too, walking. She called me about ten minutes later on her cell phone to tell me that Mr. Fox had followed her up the road. Amazing but not all that unusual that this fox is so tame. I would say that someone in the neighbourhood is feeding him. He's been here many times this winter and my son saw him on the deck in February when I was in hospital for the shoulder surgery.

I don't like them around so bold and so tame. I have photos from five years ago of a fox chasing Kenz. If they're hungry, a cat would make a big dinner. We're lucky to have our snow gone as it makes it possible for them to get mice quite easily. I've delighted in watching foxes pouncing and hunting mice in the long grass around the pond for many years and have lots of photos of them passing through the yard but usually if you open the door they take off. That's how it should be.

I have to say it's been a bit difficult to find 'fox music' in my files but I've come up with two. The Jimi Hendrix' classic, Foxy Lady is a given and I have Gingerman by Kim Barlow. I had music up by Jamie Fox but it has disappeared and it's not exactly in the essential category that I'm slowly replacing. By the way, we know this fox is not a lady. He peed in a tree trunk with his leg raised and if they're like cats or dogs, that means Monsieur.

Time is Amiss

Time and a regular schedule is important to me. I've always been 'stuck in my ways' doing the same thing at the same time every day. I admit it. Five-thirty is my regular wake up time. Since my accident, I've been waking at three am in pain, taking ibuprophen, staying up for a half hour to forty-five minutes and returning to bed. I then wake up at any time from six to eight o'clock. This is a real problem. My body time is seriously screwed up. All you have to do is check back to the time I post every day. Since my accident it has changed dramatically from my four-thirty or five time slot. Everything is several hours behind. I am missing my real life.

I have outings planned for tomorrow and the next day. Can't drive but, through the help of friends, will travel.

I am terrible at classifying music. I know what I like and that's about the size of it. Today Geoff Muldaur, Jim Kweskin and others give us Jug Band Music and Kim Barlow has Great White Nothing. They are jug band or folky/bluegrass???? If they are something different to you that is ok. You can let me know what that is if you'd like.