Tonight there is half a waxing moon, and the dim moon shadows cast by the still-leafless walnut tree are lacing across the freshly-mown lawn. It makes for a very pleasant eveing, and I intend to go back out and enjoy it for a while. First I'll have to deal with the wheelie bins, of course, tomorrow being trash day. The two bins of grass clippings and pulled weeds and various shrub trimmings are already out, but I have to finish filling the trash bin and take it out.
I'm hoping I don't run into the skunk who was here a couple of days ago eating the feral cats' food on the back porch. It was not yet night when the skunk came by, and as they are nocturnal beasts it's possible that it was a sick animal. A skunk who rises before nightfall might be in the early stages of rabies. Of course I haven't seen it since it took a meal from the cat bowls (which I immediately washed) so perhaps it has moved on to some other area.
The raccoons, on the other hand, never seem to move on. If there is any cat food out at all they will invite themselves for dinner, and then they return night after night, sometimes several times a night, just in case. The raccoons are bold, and will eat while I am standing only a few feet away from them. I suspect that someone in the neighborhod has been deliberately feeding them and they are losing their fear of people.
But I'm feeling muddle-headed, and tired of making hyphens, so I'm going off to put the last of the trash into the wheelie bin and put it out, and then spend a few minutes with the faint frogs and the pale moon— and whatever creatures decide to join me. I hope it isn't mosquitoes.
