Rainy Day Blog Post

It rained most of the day yesterday.  That's bad for working on our property.  Not only is it all dirt over there, but much of the dirt is clay, which is really slippery when wet, and not good for driving 7 tons of dump truck on.

So, much to Earl's dismay, I took yesterday off.  I messed about on Al Gore's interwebs, went grocery shopping with Pam, picked up gas for the tractor, etc.  What about this blog?  What will I write about?

I like to write the blog everyday.  I've been doing so for a couple of  years now.  Now that I'm retired, it's my "job".  When living aboard Drift Away, it was easy to find something to write about.  I either had a boat project to do, or I could simply stand on the flybridge for an hour with my camera and photograph waterfowl and passing boats.  What's to photograph here in our rental cabin in the woods in the rain?  I decided to give it a shot.  Pardon the pun.

First I noticed poor Olivia, our German Shorthaired Pointer.  Pointers are high energy dogs and need to run.  Well, it was raining.  The most she could muster for awhile was to look through the screen door.

Yes.  If you're fairly new to this blog, I cut dog doors into the screen door.  On Drift Away, we hung screens to keep Georgia's insects out, and we taught the dogs that it's OK to run through screens.  That lesson carried over.   ~sigh~.  Don't invite the dogs to your house if you have screens.

Then I noticed our can of Boraxo.  We scored two old, full cans of Boraxo at flea markets.  If you're less than 50, you may not know what Boraxo is.   It's a hand soap made out of borax and was marketed to those who got their hands particularly dirty, like mechanics and farmers.  It's made with the salt of boric acid.

Boraxo sponsored Death Valley Days, hosted by Ronald Reagan.  Yes, that Ronald Reagan.  But before Reagan, it was hosted by "the Old Ranger".  I've included a link to a YouTube video of the old Death Valley Days at the bottom of the blog.  It was a great show, and if you have a half hour to spare, worth the watch.

But meanwhile, here's a commercial for Borax laundry soap, just for "the girls".

You can still buy Boraxo today, but it no longer comes in this really cool oval metal can.  It comes in a cardboard box.  It's made by Dial Corporation now, and you can buy it on Amazon.com.

You might recall that our critter crew has more than doubled with the addition of three cats.  Two of the cats won't stand to be touched, let alone picked up.  But while we were at the grocery store, we picked up a few catnip mouses.  What cat can resist a catnip mouse?  

While the cats may have scored catnip, Pam scored some kind of chocolate liqueur thing.  She says it will be great on ice cream.  Whatever.

We were having roast beast for dinner.  The dogs seemed particularly interested in this.  I don't know why they beg.  They don't get table scraps until we're done eating, and then they get the last bite, that's it.  But they seem fascinated by the cutting of it.  Note the absence of Ruby.  She knows enough not to beg.  It's a waste of energy.  She just lets the other dogs beg, and if they get anything, she'll get hers too. 

You might notice how tall Olivia is.  Chevy is a normal sized 80 pound pit bull.  Female pointers run 21 inches at the shoulders, males 23 to 25.  Olivia was over 27 the last time we measured her.  She's huge for a pointer and towers over the pits.

I think Olivia also got chased by a bear yesterday.  She was in the berry patch, barking her fool head off like she does, and then came running out like a shot, looking back over her shoulder as she ran.  It's a good thing she's fast.

Yeah... so I guess rainy days in the woods is nowhere near as interesting as being on a boat surrounded by dolphins and diving pelicans.  Well, today is forecast to be sunny, so it's back to the property and digging the foundation.  Earl will be in his glory, and no doubt give me a good ribbing about goofing off yesterday.

And, if you have a half hour, here is classic TV from the 1950s.

Death Valley Days: "The Last Letter" (1956)

Look for Clint Eastwood.