Observable Phenomena

Two young deer, yearling does, early morning. I'd just sat down with coffee and I heard them running. Slipped over to the back door and watched them, running around the newly clearly area, then they'd stop and nuzzle necks, then off again like young goats. The fox is pissed that Danny leveled the compost pile. He leveled everything. I give her an apple and go out with clippers to cut enough small brush to start another pile. I'll get Loren to save food waste at the pub for a few days, I need to dump the composting toilet before winter, I have plenty of leaves, and I saved a bucket of stove ash. The produce guy at Kroger said he'd save a couple of boxes of cabbage leaves for me. My pigs in Mississippi were crazy for these; even when I had a lot of pigs 25-40, probably 30% of their food was supermarket waste, and the supermarket loved that I took it, because it didn't fill their dumpster. I had to run to town, the library had called, I needed whiskey and tobacco, I hadn't spoken to anyone for several days. Rooster trail of leaves, window down, a crunch under wheel; and that almost burnt smell of late summer. I'm sucked away, every time, by beautiful vegetables. I've starting not skinning almost anything, eggplant, acorn squash, cucumbers for sure; bitter is usually a warning, but it's an interesting taste You should never think I hadn't thought through the consequence. I roasted some eggplant, which I'd never done before, with some tomatoes, sprinkled everything with olive oil, salt and pepper. I have to do this in the toaster oven because it's too warm for a fire. Warm, god, then cool then cold, then too cold. I try not to get that far ahead. Looking through an old book today, a Tacitus from 1715, it's difficult to read, but I had a modern translation I could reference, which led, I don't remember why, to reading Chaucer. A few of the hickory trees, the leaves, are turning orange. Lovely against the green and yellow. All this color, in the grand grinding cycle, before we go back to black and white and the gray shadow. A long day, by my standards, I had driven, walked, read, and spent a few hours writing, slept a few hours, then got back up to pursue a thought. If then why not that. Then napped again before dawn broke. It's better to not break this down, yourself for instance, madly pursuing what that was.

Chopping brush all day,
tired and covered with dirt,
then a sweet apple.