Pete and I agreed, Memorial Day is a very sobering and sad holiday. Who could be happy, thinking of all the casualties and all the carnage that has gone on and on and on since we turned the corner and officially became Homo sapiens.

Primitive man has nothing on us, except for the fact that he/she didn’t have advanced weaponry. It can be said that the creation of weaponry was the advent of the imagination gone awry.

Plain and simple. Guns kill. No matter if the one with the one intends or accidently kills someone – having the weapon in hand gives you that option.

I do understand that people say they have guns because they feel they must defend themselves. It’s as Walt Kelly’s Pogo says, “we have met the enemy and he is us.” No truer words were ever spoken.

The above is what I thought about tonight as I took Mr. T for his evening constitutional. It’s gotten quite warm here – it’s a little disconcerting because it’s only May and temperatures are in the low ‘80s. We do have a few things going for us here – we are surrounded by trees, and this keeps us, the place, and the animals cool. We also can walk and ride in the woods, like I did yesterday, and not feel uncomfortable.

It was most likely because of the heat that I lollygagged on my walk tonight. The cottonwood tree that fell on Jim’s Road during the windstorm has been partially cut up. Whoever started in on this task never finished it perhaps because the tree has a mighty girth. However, some ATVers have made a path around the road where the tree is. So tonight, I moved quite a few branches onto the new pathway, this while Tinni hung out and grazed.

And I also picked some of the tops of the fiddlehead ferns. It’s easy to take note of things when you’re lollygagging. The sunlight illuminated the green leaves, making them seem green iridescent. For the longest time Tinni and I stood and took in the beautiful sight.

The smell of the cottonwoods is fading; still, I stopped several times by various trees and inhaled deeply. In a few days the wild roses and geraniums will bloom and so there will be a different fragrance in the air.

The flies have been clustering around the manure. The mosquitoes have been clustering around the horses. I sprayed Tinni down with some natural fly spray. It never does any good. Best to dose them all with the carcinogenic stuff if the bugs get bad.

I like the warmer weather; however, like many I am getting increasingly more concerned about fire danger. I do think that we are in a good place and that Tinni will be okay. He’s old and his lungs aren’t functioning as well as they used to.

Yes, I do enjoy lollygagging. It’s just too bad that when it comes to this, that I am weather dependent.

Next: 149. 5/31/22: Goodbye May