The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and wear
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber doo "'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--
                               Only this and nothing more."
                                                                  
I remember reading Poe's stories as a child and being completely freaked out by them, so how could I not think of him writing, Quoth the raven, "nevermore…" when I look or and see this fellow perched over the innocuous little bird finial on our feeder? The comparison stops there, however because it was high noon when I took this picture and 87F degrees outside. He does have a rather intense look in his eye, but he is not really creepy at all, perching on the only place he fits on our bird feeder, rather than on a bust of Pallas. He actually spends most of his time on the ground along with the grey squirrel, eating whatever he can find underneath the feeder.

We seem to have jumped straight into summer, and the sound of mowers can be heard from all directions as everyone complies with the Cal Fire directive that we all have any tall grass on our properties mowed by June first. Since we own the two vacant lots behind us, that means hiring someone to mow almost two acres of rapidly drying grass.

Speaking of vacant lots, we got a letter from a couple of realtors in Petaluma saying, "we are representing a client that desires to purchase a vacant lot on Los Alamos Rd. and build their dream, retirement home. We noticed that you own two lots on Los Alamos and were wondering if you might consider selling one of the lots?"

We would have to respond that the reason we bought the lots id because the last thing we want is a total stranger building their "dream home" right above us.