The day is cloudy, just your usual every day no rain clouds, but rain is predicted for the next three days. It is in the low 50’s. The dogs were in and out quickly and are now napping from their strenuous morning.

A few weeks back, I was sitting with Jack in his room, his very own room where his litter box and food are. I keep a gate across the room’s threshold to protect Jack’s food from a marauder, from a large dog in the guise of a boxer, but I missed something, a few somethings. One night as I was sitting with Jack a mouse came out from under the bed. That mouse was either brazen or stupid. Jack jumped off the bed and the mouse fled. The next day I bought four traps called mouse hotels. They are simple and easy to use. A couple of nights ago I put bait in two of the traps. Last night I found a mouse in each trap. I took the traps outside and released the mice. I washed both traps then baited the other two. I’ll keep a running tally.

When I was a kid, I don’t remember seeing all too many animals in the wild. I do remember one Sunday ride when I saw a couple of deer munching on grass near the side of the road. I screamed, “Deer! Deer!” so excitedly you’d think I’d seen a dinosaur. Even seeing cows grazing was exciting. I fed the spawns in the Public Garden. They came right up to take the peanuts from my hand. Amazing! I think I even giggled. I once saw a chipmunk and a baby rabbit, the rarest ones I remember seeing.

In Ghana I saw a snake which had eaten a chicken, a baby chick yet to be crushed and digested. I saw a few baboons ahead of me on the road. I held the tail of the sacred crocodile in Paga. He also had eaten a chicken. I saw vultures close up. They were walking around my Ghanaian family compound. I was the only one watching. In Mole National Park I saw elephants so close up I could have shaken hands or rather shaken a hand and a trunk. I saw many other animals on safaris.

I have seen the most animals here on the cape. Wild turkeys are everywhere. Sometimes the flock is two or three, but mostly there are many turkeys traveling together and walking on the street just to be annoying. I have seen coyotes. One used to use my yard as a short cut. Possums seem to love my yard. Nala loves possums. I’ve seen foxes and watched baby foxes gambol around the beach. One deer almost got hit by my car. Luckily I stopped on time. That was the first I saw a deer in the headlights. I’ve also seen bats. One got into my house a long time back before the dogs. He flew out the front door.

I still get excited seeing animals.

Today is a lovely day with bright sunlight, fall sunlight, slanted light, and a mostly blue sky. The breeze is strong and teeters on being a wind. It is raining leaves. It is 51°, the predicted high for the day. I have no errands, no reason to leave the house so I’ll do a bit of cleaning. I’m thinking vacuuming.

I’m watching The Black Scorpion, a 1957 black and white creature movie, a 1950’s B-movie. Geologists are checking out an erupting volcano in Mexico, but all the characters speak English, not Spanish. The backgrounds are painted stills. The jeep bounces on a fake road you don’t see. A film behind it provides the background and a sense of movement. The best scenes are in the village with crowds of extras. They are dressed in traditional clothes. The scenes would have been beautiful in color. The special effects of the giant scorpion are reminiscent of Harry Harryhausen, but the close ups of the scorpion’s face are silly. Only the mouth moves, and it drools. The scorpions have come out of the volcano and are ravaging the towns and eating the people and cattle. I am enjoying this movie maybe because of its flaws. My mother would have said it is right up my alley.

When I lived in Africa, my students would often visit in the early evenings. They would knock on the screen door and say caw caw or something similar. They’d leave their sandals outside. We’d sit and chat a while. One night, a student asked for my sandal. I passed it over to her. She whacked the floor. She killed a scorpion. It was my first scorpion. During training I saw my first army ants. They were mesmerizing. They traveled in a long, thick line and never stopped. I was late to class that day. I also saw centipedes near my house. I was disappointed they didn’t have 100 legs. As for common insects, during the day there were the flies while during the night, in the rainy season, there were the mosquitos, buzzing, annoying, blood sucking mosquitos.

My dance card is fairly empty this week. I have my usual uke practice and lesson but only one concert. I’m happy with a quiet week.