Toby Is Not a Vegetarian, Neither Am I

I thought that last time

when I posted "Now What?"

that I'd have an answer by this time.

But, I still don't.

Instead, I tried for a couple of days

to become a vegetarian.

I told Toby about it.

He wretched and gagged--

sort of a cat Bleccchhh!

Then, he laid down again.

Hairball, he said, but I doubt it.

He went on

 

You know I’m a carnivore 

But I don’t have anything against

vegetarians 

I ate one this morning 

Bit its head off neatly 

Completely 

His tail flipped a lazy wave.

It was my turn to say Bleccchhh!

Then he asked

How'd your vegetarianism work out?

Well, I replied, not so hot.

I have to combine a legume

and a grain

to make a whole protein.

I don't like legumes very much--

maybe green beans

or if I'm really cold

pea soup is okay

Can't stand peanut butter

more than once a week

I like all the veggie

and fruit and nuts

and grains and seeds and such

Oh, I'm forgetting, I like refried beans!

I haven't had a good helping

of refried beans yet

in this Pennsylvania Dutch Country. 

We're not in Tucson anymore, old buddy!

You can say that again, he replied.

All there was to catch

in that Tucson condo

were cockroaches!

Still, I said, you didn't have

to live outside!

He was silent for awhile

Then he said

it was soooooo boring

and I didn't know how good 

field mice tasted

Did you forget about those

first Pennsylvania winters?

I asked.

No! he said

But I liked my own

back porch blanket igloo

with the heater

Let's be honest

it was a lot to get used to

He rolled over on his back

then said

I have perks here

What do you mean by "perks"

I asked, feeling guilty

and a little sad that

he has had to live outdoors

ever since.

He licked a paw

and rubbed his face

then said, I run my own 

show out here

rule the rodents

sleep in the barn

and sometimes for fun

I rule the dogs too

Toby rolled back onto his stomach

eyed the chickens 

scratching and pecking their

findings a few yards away.

Say, what about eggs?

Do you eat eggs? he asked

One of the roosters

looking back at Toby

stretched up tall

and flapped his wings

Toby's tail flipped up and down

in a wide arc

I replied yes, I eat eggs,

fish, too. And in a whisper

I said I like a piece of

chicken now and then

I sighed and said

to be honest

I gave up on 

the legume-grain thing--

A couple of days and it was over

Toby's attention shifted

He stood and stretched his

whole orange long length

Protein is running around out there

were his parting words as

he sauntered over

to the pasture fence and

leaped to a fence post top

He paused to survey

the field ahead

jumped down

and disappeared

into the tall grass

*

As it happens Tucson is on my mind as I take note of friends Paula and Carl's news this week that they just went solar. They provided Carl's wonderful photo of their new solar array...

...including a real rainbow! and the Catalina Mountains, too.
What's not to love!

Paula provided info for how it works and their setup, which I quote...

• ...the backup battery [that will arrive this fall will go] in the storage room off our garage, where we had some of the rest of the solar-related equipment installed.
• Some of this other solar-related equipment includes an inverter, which converts the electric field from direct current (DC) (which is what the solar panels produce) to alternating current (AC) (which is what our household appliances and the electric grid use).
• The battery is a Tesla Powerwall and is 4' high x 2.5' wide x 6" deep and weighs about 250 lbs.
• We won't be entirely independent from the electric utility with only 1 battery; we'd need 2 batteries to also cover the "power hogs" of the A/C, stove & dryer. But even with 1 battery, if the power goes out, we'll have electricity to run everything else (including fans, fridges, lights etc.) for a few days at least.
• We have 18 solar panels mounted on our roof; each panel is about 5.5’ tall x 3.5’ wide and weighs 41 lbs. They're mounted in 3 groups of six panels each (you can see these 3 groups in the photo).
• We should save at least $1500/year on electricity (but obviously every house's savings is different) and we were able to take advantage of both federal and state income tax credits.
• Our investment should break even in about 8 years.

I hope that many others will join them to counter our global warming emergency with whatever sustainable method possible. Thank you many times over, Paula and Carl! 

*

And speaking of our vast, global concerns, despite the overheated, 117 degree Las Vegas venue, Sonja, Jeff, Elijah, Kingston, Valerie, Tim, Duane and Simone all met there for another of Elijah's basketball tournaments. The team made it all the way through to the finals but didn't capture the title. Kudos to Elijah! that was a good show however it came out.

Here's a smattering of pictures texted from their trip...

Time out for lunch...

Big brother reading the bedtime story.

Sonja.

Sonja, Jeff & Kingston.

While all that basketball practice was going on between games, there was plenty else to do...

Kingston and Simone.

And then, the trip back home...

*

Aidan gathered ingredients to bake a pound cake--and make rockets for my birthday...

Rocket supplies.

Assembly.

Launch pad.

From Aidan...

By the next day on my birthday, he had assembled 17 rockets. After a beautiful birthday supper that included delicious bounty from Wendy's garden...

The beautiful pound cake.
The bowl and contents on the left and the eggs were for me from Wendy.

...the evening cooled nicely for rocket launching. We all took turns setting them off. Here's a couple of them. It was a mistake to think my slo-mo ones would upload so the video with the highest, longest rocket arc will have to be imagined...

Thank you, Aidan! It was fun to be in on the construction, even getting to light up a couple of them, then seeing them actually working so well!

The evening included a quick Facetime from Keoni and a video he made with none other than the Takács Quartet with whom he's been rehearsing...

Thank you, Takács Quartet!.

Thank you, Keoni!

On top of that wonderful special moment came dessert...

What an evening! What a birthday!!! I can taste, smell, see and hear it all over again. Made me not mind it happened in my ninth decade.

Still more was to come. The following Saturday, Pat and Marge got takeout from Giacomos, the new, beautiful deli in Quakertown with wonderfully good everything Italian. We had a lovely back porch birthday and visit at Marge's. 

Thank you, everyone. I've had a great time. I'm glad we can be together a bit no matter how it takes place; electronically, face-to-face, postal, smoke signals...every bit means a lot. I love it that you are there.

Well, it's late again, so I'd better wrap this up. I hope you are well, vaccinated, and safe from harm.

From a visit to the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Now What?

A good, good late afternoon and evening a week ago to celebrate Independence Day. The perfectly timed late-day weather break meant a very enjoyable late afternoon barbeque meal on the back porch at the farm followed by Aidan's fireworks show amid beautiful skies and wafts of cool breeze.

The beginning of Wendy's fresh from the garden zucchini casserole. We reminisced about the old, glass dish she inherited from me that once was new in my own early kitchen.

Aidan's test case first rocket firing.

One of the bigger firings he set off...

It was especially satisfying that the weather that evening was so comfortable and welcome.

Keoni is in CA for the summer and we did miss him, yet happy he is able to pursue an important direction in his life.

Out in Tucson, Paula has continued her daily desert color renderings. She shared June with us including a peak at her process during the month...

With Palo Verde tree seedpod.

It's a treat to see Paula's Southwestern colors on my screen and how well and inquisitively she looks at so many aspects of that beautiful region. She writes in an email that she counted the peak-time pincushion cactus blooms one recent day in their yard. There were 576. Then, the next day she found the count had increased dramatically to 1206!!! Yes, it was hot! 100+ degrees. Such is love for the desert southwest. I get it.

It's pretty quiet now. Aidan is taking care of the farm while Wendy and John visit friends in upstate NY. He has mowed the perimeter of the farm where we walk and will cut back some branches now over-growing the pathways. We're in a short break from the heat, soon ending.

It's still a little strange coming out of the deep pandemic isolations. All is okay yet reëstablishing direction and commitment remain somewhat unsettling. Sort of an individual (and collective, I think), "Now what?!"

Pandemic Era Independence Day

A settling in.

A getting used to.

A more full life.

Relaxing a bit.

Going out and about a bit more.

We got the vaccines.

We're the lucky ones.

Yet we're not post-pandemic.

Not by a longshot.

We could be.

But we're not.

Too many haven't bared their arm.

They endanger my great-grandson.

He can't have the vaccine yet.

He is six.

He is beautiful.

He is everyone's child.

*

Birdsong is coming through the dense fog this morning. Rain has washed to the ground the birdseed I scatter along my windowsill outside. I feel grateful to have made it this far. So many are safer now, yet we have a profoundly cruel twist that so many have died, so many cope with loss, so many remain virus-injured, while so many won't help to end this pandemic. I don't understand.

*

Keoni is in California. I had a nice walk with him one day before he left for the summer of music pursuits there. Our walk began with a visit on Wendy's inviting back porch while he ate some late lunch...

Now the summer insects are having their day. On another day, a walk with Aidan ended with our proactive search of each other for deer ticks. Sure enough, one had gotten on his lower leg. He squashed it with a rock. Our trail around the farm is regularly coursed by deer. We'll continue to be careful and avoid brushing tall grasses and branches. For that reason, we haven't investigated the pond which is surrounded by a field of tall grass. I'm reminded that neighbor Joe cut it last year with his tractor mower but this year that won't happen because Covid took him.

Four of us, Wendy, John, Aidan, and I, will gather at the farm for barbeque to mark this Independence Day. The not-far-away summer camp out of sight further down the ridge will likely have their firework display again. We'll miss Keoni, though he's only been home for last year's 4th and his July birthday for that one time in about 10 years. Aidan's summer will be with us. He'll leave in late August for Cincinnati. Soon, we'll pick raspberries again.

*

As you turn into the property at Dock, there is to the right a lovely community garden. No doubt Pat will sign up for a space there next year. (My artificial knees don't permit kneeling or squatting to get at the weeds.) Almost our entire community is vaxxed, save a very few masked, medically exempted. Restrictions now allow us to be amongst each other without masks, and family visits are taking place. I enjoy the freeing option of people at my table now or going to other parts of Dock.

Dock Community Garden.