There have been some nice cloud formations around here lately. Conditions that have given us our very wet August have made sure there were plenty of clouds around even when it didn’t rain. We saw these clouds last weekend as we came back from walking the dogs.
Pink clouds and waves
There were some waves up there, too. It looks almost like there are some crepuscular rays, but they’re just part of the waves.
Isn’t there a story that if you dip someone’s hand in water while they’re sleeping, they will pee? We couldn’t prove the story this time because Zoe’s front paw didn’t actually touch the water left over from watering a fern. But it was close. Zeke is making sure the fox doesn’t come around unannounced.
Zoe on the front porch
I took the dogs for a short walk Monday down to a dirt road that leads into the woods at the end of Wildlife Trail, the road* that runs along the side of our property. Not far into the woods we found a turtle having a late breakfast.
Turtles like some mushroom
This one was a little skittish. When Zeke approached him, he pulled back into his shell. Zeke is interested in turtles but doesn’t bother them. Zeke moved away and I was hoping the turtle would resume his meal. He didn’t, so we continued on our walk. When we came back 15 minutes or so later, the turtle was gone. But Zeke remembered.
Where is that guy?
It’s kind of hard to distinguish the mushroom from the leaves, but this is where we left the turtle. The mushroom almost directly behind Zeke in the middle of the road.Zeke is looking for the turtle. I think Zeke would make a pretty good turtlehound.
Added later:
As you might remember from a previous post, Zeke likes blackberries. He has started sniffing them out on our walks. So he’s also a pretty good berryhound. I don’t think I have ever seen a mix of those two breeds.
* The road is poorly maintained at best. It has deep ruts from runoff and the pavement is crumbling. I hope it stays that way.
Zoe’s little pink tongue
Zoe shows his tongue a lot when he sleeps. Does that mean his tongue is too big? Did he go through the line twice when they gave out tongues? Or is he always just giving everyone a raspberry?
I went to the funeral of a former coworker’s mother today. I didn’t know her mother, and I hadn’t seen her in several years. But I have known her since I started to work in Huntsville in 1986, when she was a co-op and I had just finished grad school.
The funeral home chapel was full. Almost everyone seemed to be from the church her parents attended, which is a conservative Protestant denomination. Based on what I have read, and the little I remember from talking to my friend about it, they don’t use musical instruments in their services. All their singing in this service was a cappella. When I attended church, I got used to fairly pitiful, uncoordinated and scattered congregational singing during worship services, but these people could sing. They sounded like a well-trained choir and at times the voices blended and reverberated almost like an organ. I remember the hymns that were sung when I went to church, and I was surprised that I didn’t recognize any of the four songs that were sung in this service.
The pastor didn’t use the funeral as an opportunity to deliver a sermon, but there was obviously a lot of religion throughout. I was raised in a Southern Baptist church prior to that denomination’s decline into willful ignorance and bigoted fundamentalism. I have long since given up those and any other religious beliefs, but I know all about this stuff. And yet I felt like a visitor to a foreign country. It really is a world that I can’t feel at home in any more.
UPDATE: I added a link in case anyone is not familiar with this song. It was one of the four that were sung at the funeral service, and I was not familiar with it.