bits and pieces

I visited my cabin on Tuesday, We had nearly four inches of rain there in the last week, and I worried that the lake filled and then poured over the spillway, washing it out (because that’s what seems to happen ever couple of years). I needn’t have worried. Though the lake was up about a foot (great!), it was still down about three feet from full pool. My guess is that the ground was so dry that much of that rain soaked in rather than ran off to fill the lake. That’s a good thing too, so I wasn’t disappointed (much).

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The image above is of the phoebe nest on the side of my cabin, just by the door. These fellows were very still when I approached them, but each time I returned, they had rearranged themselves. This was the best photo I took since it showed all five of them (count the beaks if you’re having trouble seeing them).

I’ve said before that phoebes have been building their mud nests here for more than ten years. My coming and going through the cabin door no doubt stresses them, but I’m only around for a few hours a couple times a month, and the nest seems to be thriving, so I don’t let myself feel too bad about it.

I also learned that someone’s cattle have been grazing on my dam. The luxuriant grass normally there is trimmed close to the ground, and other evidence of cattle presence was here and there. I didn’t see any obvious path of destruction (as I have in the past) showing me where they made their incursion, and I didn’t feel like hiking a mile of fence in the rain to find the breach, but I suppose I will have to next visit (and then do something about repairing it). Good Neighbor Craig says a property owner to the south of us has complained (repeatedly) of cattle getting on her land and destroying some prairie restoration work she’s been trying to do.

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Did I tell you about grand #9? Agnes Ann Johnson was born on May 1. She goes by Aggie, and she seems to be loved by her sister and two brothers. Agnes was my grandmother’s name and the middle name of her father’s grandmother. I haven’t met her yet though my wife was in NYC for the birth (well, handling the older kids when mom and dad did the birth experience). If all goes to plan, she will be coming here in July, at which time Small Paul’s little brother may have also arrived!

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The life of an author, I have learned, is one of hustle. I have been recording a few podcast interviews in recent weeks. Several are scheduled in the days and weeks before Father’s Day since that holiday aligns nicely with the theme of the novel. I’ll post links here and on social media when they go live. I am constantly looking for other opportunities to get One-Match Fire out there. (And when I’m not, I’m writing the two sequels to it!)

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I learned earlier this week that One-Match Fire is now in the circulating collection of the county library near my cabin. I had donated a copy toward that possibility. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find it in their online search function. Not remotely, anyway. They assure me it’s on the shelf and in the system, and I can be happy with that.

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