Trees, Pee and Chocolate

Yesterday when walking the dogs in the park, I took this photo of the last colorful tree in the whole park that still had leaves.  There are still the pine and fir and other evergreen trees, but this was the only deciduous tree left.  Even on a foggy, crap day, these yellow leaves were just glowing, and the fallen ones around the base were like the richest of carpets.

This morning, there wasn't a leaf on the tree.  I didn't have my camera with me, but the contrast between one day and the next was pretty startling.  Golden vibrancy to bald in a day.  Sort of life in a nutshell, really, isn't it..??

Speaking of trees.  The deer ate a small tree today.  One of my replacement cypress trees.  They skinned the poor wee thing to the bark.  And really...a cypress tree..??  My Rose of Sharon one day, a tree the next.  There's plenty of stuff to eat up on this blasted mountain, so I'm pretty pissed that my landscaping seems to be the New Jersey Diner this week.  I had one dose of the Deer Fence left, so after chasing them out of the yard, I grabbed my sprayer and went out to dose the remains of the tree and several other shrubs.  Apparently--not having used the sprayer for a few months--there was something stuck in the nozzle.  When I pressed the button for the spray, the end cap on the nozzle blew off and I got a face full of coyote pee.  (At least that's what this stuff smells like.  And how do I know such a thing, you ask..??  A story for another day.)  So, so gross and stinky.  I had to fix the nozzle, finish spraying, then strip off my clothes in the laundry room and take a shower.  Eeeewww, it was bad.  Hours later I'm sure I can still smell that horrible odor, no doubt because it's permanently absorbed into my pores, no matter how hard I scrubbed my skin.

Managed to get all the cards and letters mailed yesterday. It actually took me two days from start to finish, mainly due to notes I had to write in each card. Still, I enjoyed doing it, and since it's basically the only thing I'm doing for Christmas, I feel good that I was able to write to everyone, and get everything mailed before next year.




In the throes of a very good book, so think I'll make myself a nice cup of hot chocolate and get back to the story.  Ah, nothing quite like the warm, heavenly, soothing taste of hot chocolate, is there.  Sure beats a face full of coyote pee...