View From The Front Porch-Stan Hitchcock-October 20, 2012

It's a very nice Saturday afternoon, cool, cloudy, breezy with Denise working in her flower beds, my good dog Buck, the Collie, laying in the grass within reach of her in case she happens to have a second or two to scratch behind his ears, as he scans the immediate area watching for Bears, Cougars, Water Buffalo, Timber Wolves and the like, not likely to be one come around, but he watches the National Geographic Channel and hopes to catch one some day. Me, I'm having a coffee break, which started at 5:30 this morning and is still going strong at 1:49 in the afternoon. Yessir, you just can't have too long of a coffee break on Saturdays.

I let the horses out of their field to graze on the still green grass of our lawn, watching that they don't eat the heads off of some of Denise's flowers and shrubs, a hard lesson I also learned some time ago. Horses will pass up a great looking patch of grass and go for a blooming plant or shrub every time. It's not that they like the taste of them, It's just like the forbidden fruit, and they know it will get me coming in a hurry, as they trot off with horse chuckles.

Looks like the squirrels have successfully run the crows out of the sycamore trees, ain't heard nary a CAW in the last couple of days. Amazing what a black walnut throwed up side a crows head by Grandpa Fuzzy Tail will do for the neighborhood. I imagine Mama and Papa Squirrel slept in this morning, in the snug little nest in the hollow sycamore tree, with Papa getting a little bit frisky, since it's coming up on that time of year when romance fills the air in the squirrel community. Well, enough about animal husbandry, not sure where that thought came from.

The Hummingbirds are well on their way to South America by now so I'm gonna have to find some other means of entertainment I reckon. Watching out the window as the Hummingbird Wars go on around the feeder that Denise puts out all Summer is my main source of entertainment...there are four main hummingbirds and, of course, I had to name them, Barack, Mitt, Paul and Joe, as the wars would continue with swirling attacks, bitter knock down and drag outs, I'm sure calling each other horrible names in hummingbird squeaks, and generally acting like little flying politicians. (sigh) I guess, since they have gone South, I'll have to go back to watching real people act like that on my television, except, in that case, it is not so entertaining cause they are fighting about my way of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness....but, I'll tell you what, I intend to keep doing my way of life, my liberty and my pursuit of happiness and no politician in a cheap suit is gonna stop me. After all, a black walnut up side the head would stop a lot of that nonsense, I believe.  -Stan