In memory of Peaches

We said goodbye to Peaches on Tuesday. The cutest and sweetest kitty ever lost her battle with kidney disease. To honor the memory of our precious, beautiful girl, we are posting some pictures of her. This collection includes some of her favorite activities, such as sleeping (#1 all time favorite), hunting, and even playing Scrabble. Between pictures are the verses of "When Great Trees Fall," a timeless poem by Maya Angelou.

When great trees fall,
 rocks on distant hills shudder,
 lions hunker down 
in tall grasses,
 and even elephants 
lumber after safety.



When great trees fall
 in forests,
 small things recoil into silence,
 their senses
 eroded beyond fear.



When great souls die,
 the air around us becomes 
light, rare, sterile.
 We breathe, briefly.
 Our eyes, briefly,
 see with
 a hurtful clarity.
 Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
 examines,
 gnaws on kind words 
unsaid,
 promised walks 
never taken.



Great souls die and
 our reality, bound to
 them, takes leave of us.
 Our souls,
 dependent upon their
 nurture,
 now shrink, wizened.
 Our minds, formed
 and informed by their 
radiance,
 fall away.
 We are not so much maddened
 as reduced to the unutterable ignorance 
of dark, cold
 caves.



And when great souls die,
 after a period peace blooms,
 slowly and always 
irregularly. Spaces fill
 with a kind of 
soothing electric vibration.
 Our senses, restored, never 
to be the same, whisper to us.
 They existed. They existed.
 We can be. Be and be 
better. For they existed.

7 megawatt hours produced

We had some storms today, but enough sun earlier in the day to surpass 7 megawatt hours of total solar production since May 20 last year. That's 7,000 kilowatt/hours from our favorite yellow orb. With the meter only reading 1,665 kilowatt hours of usage, the sun has been the source for more than 80 percent of electricity. Sounds like the next three days will offer some more good production. Nothing like the sun!

1 + 1 = 3 (hummingbirds)

We have a new addition to the local hummingbird family. We've been watching them now and determined that there is a new youngster visiting the feeder!! I'll try to get a picture of it and post. And as if this isn't enough excitement, last night, when i went out at about 9pm to bring in the feeder, a rather large black bear bounded out of the bushes and away from the house to the east. Who knows...it may have been sitting there waiting until our lights went out to come and partake of the feeder. Well, that is exactly why the feeder comes inside each night!!! Clearly the bear was quite scared as it didn't even look back -- just took off when I opened the North door.

Taking the afternoon off

We did a lot of work in about 3 and a half hours this morning. We're taking the afternoon off. We cut some more red maple firewood logs, cleared a path blocked by some fallen red maple, and trimmed some conifers that were blocking access to the sun for oaks and birches in a spot about 1000 feet from the house. Here are some pictures of our busy day.

The good blend of sun and rain have made for a lovely wildflower season so far. These are just two on the hill near the house:

We received more wind and rain from Hurricane Arthur than originally expected. This white pine must have twisted when it fell, causing the splintering of the trunk.