Fred

Heron at Lake Frank where there were tons of yellow irises.

I heard a cicada near my home. It was close enough that I could make out a solitary cicada sound. It had all the existential rage a 1.5 inch insect with a truly unfair life situation is capable of expressing. That is a lot. Irish, you're right, this is going to get loud. 

It wasn't that big a deal 17 years ago because our complex had been recently built and all the soil disrupted. We have more this time so.... I hope we can sleep through it. When there are many they blend together into an otherworldly sound. They sound like.....like the sound you might expect when watching a science fiction movie about an alien invasion. 

It is still May but we will have 90-degree temperatures this week. One of my potential roofers is looking into how much it would cost to get cool shingles transported here. I have not given up yet!

Fred. I am posting this on Saturday because I know it will sound ridiculous and you will think I am delusional. 

I believe Fred lives somewhere else now. I don't mean a lovely farm in the sky with no predators. 

I carefully washed the humane traps to get stinky human smell off them (thank you so much for that suggestion) and, wearing gloves, filled them with higher value bait (thank you for that suggestion too). Karen had a talk with Fred and explained that while we like him very much, this is our territory, he needs his own territory, and we don't want him to be hurt. I think you can agree that this is the very nicest way to deliver a threat. We see no evidence of his continued presence. Eventually I stopped checking the traps regularly and then removed them. Fred was a considerate fellow and did not cause a lot of damage or dismay. He quickly decided we had lousy, tasteless food and left it alone. He did have an odd habit of chewing the blue rubber standing mats we have in the kitchen. After the talk there were no more little blue pieces of rubber. I also haven't seen him since the talk. As improbable as this sounds, I believe that Fred has found new territory.