I am outside on the deck writing Coffee. The day is such a delight I didn’t want to miss any breeze, any bird song or any butterfly flitting by. It is a bit noisy here as I can hear mowers and blowers and cars going down the street, but those are short-lived sounds and I can be patient until they disappear. Gracie is with me and she is sleeping in the corner in the shade.

Just as I was ready to go out last night I found a dead mouse on the rug by the door. It wasn’t there earlier as I had been in and out and think I would have noticed. It was a baby grey mouse. As to which of my animals is the mighty hunter I have no idea. What is strange is I never heard the encounter. Usually the hunter makes quite a bit of nose running and slipping across the floor. The mouse looked as if it was sleeping and was dry, no saliva all over it, so I’m thinking it was Fern or Maddie. Gracie is a sloppy hunter. Now I’ll set up the have-a-heart trap as one mouse really means many mice.

I am not an accident ready to happen but rather an accident which has already happened and will happen again and again. It is my lot in life. Lately my feet and toes have fallen victims to my genetic defect. A wooden sign which says No Pets was moved the other night, and I forgot. It fell on my foot, and the swelling didn’t go down until yesterday. I stubbed the same toe twice in the last two days. What is even worse is I stubbed it against the cat gate both times. Some people live and learn. I live and have bumps, cuts and black and blues. It didn’t happen when I was a kid. I guess I grew into the defect passed along by my father. My favorite of all is the exhaust burn from my motorcycle. Don’t get me wrong it hurt like hell, but it was the circumstance which gave me to know I was my father’s daughter. There I was stopped on the road to let a herd of goats cross. I was holding my motorcycle but loosely and only by the handlebars. The goats changed direction and ran into my bike which I dropped. It landed on my leg hence the exhaust burn. I think the goats did it on purpose and I’m sticking with that story.