animal farm, w/ vegetables

I'm here alone taking care of the animals this weekend, because Catboxette decided to go out and run with the Maenads.

So I'm sitting here in the silence, listening to the tree in the living room drop its hard, round, little green fruits onto the hardwood floor, where they bounce and roll.

There are three dogs: two schnauzers and a Boston terrorizer, plus an extremely fluffy and feminine cat with delicate sensibilities. There are also a couple parakeets who keep up a constant chatter during the day, plus they have intercourse about 100 times, and this is only the second time in my life I've been jealous of birds. (When I was a little kid, back in the Dirty Old Town, it was because they could fly and I couldn't.)

It's harvest time here at the ranch as you can see -- cucumbers, zucchinis, potatoes, green beans, and leafy greens, and also just a few tomatoes (alas). Next year much of the ground will be in tomato plants, set into their black bags full of extra-rich dirt.

This semi-rural, but in no way remote neighborhood is very quiet right now. When I stand on the deck in back I hear the endless hum of auto traffic headed up the main line to town. It's going to be like that around here for the next 48 hours.

And then Catboxette will return home after swimming the deepest river and climbing the highest mountain, to collapse muddy and exhausted in my arms.

Photo: "Cucumber Bucket" ©2012 by Dave B., a.k.a. catboxer.