The Great Orange Rind Heist

When I opened the patio door drapes this morning, the orange rind was on the patio and it was empty of any pulp. Soon a squirrel came and shoved its head into the rind and started gnawing on it. The squirrel was working hard at getting all of the good out of it.

 

After a while of gnawing away, it picked up the orange rind, scampered across the lawn, and scaled the privacy fence. It sat on top of the fence eating the remains of grape jelly off the bottom of the rind. The next time I glanced out, the squirrel and the orange rind were gone. Evidently it took it back to its lair. Or dropped it and gave up. One or the other. I prefer the lair idea. (Sorry the picture's blurry. It was far away and I knew if I opened the patio door, the squirrel would skedaddle.)

 

I love my new watercolor book. It's like a coloring book, except for paint instead of crayons or markers. I can see I'm going to have a lot of fun with this. And the good news is I've got a flowers book just like it. When I got that first book I used separate paper taped to a board and sketched the flower, then followed the directions to paint it. If I get tired of the In The Woods book, I can switch to the flowers book. Or maybe do one and then the other. Anyway, today's picture is a Caterpillar. Cool, huh?

 

When I finished painting, I picked up a packet of worksheets I printed off yesterday from the website of the author of How to Write a Cozy Mystery. I know that cozy readers have specific expectations so I got the book and worked through planning the sleuth, community, sidekick, law enforcement figure, and world of the book. Since I have a partial manuscript, I didn't have to make up some of the stuff she said to figure out but some of it was new and other questions helped clarify things. It felt good to sit with paper and pencil to write out my thoughts instead of typing them on the computer. I should do that more often.

 

A Robin visited the birdbath this afternoon. I thought it might take a bath and Robins are enthusiastic bathers so they're fun to watch. But it only hopped around, took a sip of water, and flew away.

 

I spent a lot of the day listening to an audiobook that had me in its thrall. I'd listen for a while and then turn it off to do something else, something more active. But soon enough I'd have the audiobook on again. I finally gave up and just listened to The End and then drew a gratitude journal page for today.

 

It feels like I go to the grocery every other day, but I really don't. I only go when I'm out of bananas, which works out to every 5-8 days, depending on how many I buy and how green they are when I get them. I went to the grocery today for bananas and a few other items. At least it gets me out and walking around every few days.

Oh, after my shower this morning I got out a clean pair of capris. When I unfolded them to put them, on a sock fell out of them. A sock that has been missing for about a year. I knew it had to be stuck somewhere. It was a nice surprise to find it and reunite it with its partner.

Do you realize that a week from today it will be August 1? Where does the time go? 

 --Barbara