Fox pack

Cotton loafingOne day this week Joyce enjoyed sitting at the kitchen window and watching a family of foxes cavort in the meadow.  There were two adults and two nearly-grown pups.  Unfortunately when it came time to put the guineas up one was missing.  Joyce and Chris found its carcass under the juniper the foxes were hanging around.  Joyce and I had convinced ourselves the foxes weren’t a threat to the guineas and I suppose it’s still possible the guinea died of natural causes, the foxes were just taking advantage of fresh meat but the circumstantial evidence is pretty incriminating.  Joyce is putout with the foxes now and it doesn’t pay to upset Joyce.

I’ve been working the new John Deere this week.  It was due its break-in oil change and that’s when I ran into a problem.  I couldn’t get the oil filter off.  I called the dealer and talked to one of the mechanics.  I wanted to know if they had some special tool.  The problem was I couldn’t get to where I could get a good grip on it.  The mechanic said the factory puts the filters on pretty tight.  I think they used an impact wrench.  Anyway, they didn’t have anything special so I new I was on my own.  Fortunately I was able to get grip on it with a pipe wrench, one Dad bought when he came down to Garland after we moved in to 905 Treasure.  He figured he we needed a little help so he drove down.  I think he used the wrench on the archaic air conditioning system the house had when we moved in.  Anyway, the wrench opened just wide enough and I was able to work it into position with just enough room to rotate it.  Once the wrench got a good grip it was all over.  That filter was coming off.

Abigail had her first volley ball game today.  The is the Crockett sixth grade team and only a couple of girls she played with at Olsen are on the team.  Next year in 7th grade they have to try out for the team.  Rebecca is playing soccer I’m told.  She’s the only girl on the team of kindergartners.  Kari said she stays there while they are practicing and Rebecca is pretty focused on what she’s supposed to be doing.  At the last practice she heard some kid holler that so-and-so was kissing somebody.  Since Rebecca was the only girl she immediately started trying to figure out what was going on but it turned out it was two of the boys and Rebecca wasn’t involved.

The place looks pretty good after the rain we’ve had and the weather has been hard to beat the last week or so; warm afternoons and cool nights.  Joyce spends a lot of time helping Janice get the ancestral home ready for sale.  She comes home pretty tired.