Went to work in the midst of a stalled tropical storm. The job was located in a gated golf community, NOT my favorite place to be. Job didn’t pan out either. Lovely. Gray skies mirrored m attitude. Bleh.

On my way out of the yard, I noticed the neighbors had a fig tree growing along the side of their house. Looking closer, I realized they had not one, but two fig trees growing. Right next to several raised bed gardens growing….HERBS AND VEGETABLES! In a gated community? They’ll be blackballed! What will the HOA say about this?
Around the corner, I saw a rabbit in a yard. And then a squirrel. No big deal. A lot of animals moving around though…Don’y usually see rabbits moving around at mid day. Hmm.Chuckling to myself, I drove away. I was glad to see I’m not the only one heading down a path of self-reliance.

And as I just passed out the gate into “free” territory, I slammed on the brakes as an OTTER ran across the road in front of me! What the hell! I was tickled to death to see him, then realized I had my new camera with me! Grabbing it, I snapped a quick picture before the little guy dove into the nearby pond. I need to work on my quick-reflex picture taking, it seems…here is all I was able to capture on short notice:

Yes, this picture looks like a wiener dog. But I promise you it was a river otter. I’ve seen several here from time to time. Once, while anchored up in my kayak fishing, I had one swim right up to my boat trying to figure out what I was. Weighing in at between 10 and 30 pounds, they can wreak havoc on a person if they so choose, so I was a bit apprehensive. But lucky for me, he was just curious, and soon swam away.

The otter I saw today also swam away, but not until after jumping around enough to make me smile, setting my mood back to a good one.

I do have much to be happy about. I have enough work (most of the time) to keep me clothed, housed, and fed. I am able to take enough control of my life where I live so that I can raise some animals and a garden (no evil HOA here!). A family that is in good health and loves me. A blog that not only allows me to express myself (a thing I’ve longed to do since Mrs. Murphy was my English teacher 25+ years ago), it actually has readers that thank me for my efforts and ask for more. I was able to take a nap, and the wife let me sleep. I woke up hungry, and was able to make some rabbit chili (a future post, methinks!) from ingredients I stocked up, mostly from things I grew and stored myself. I fixed a cabinet for the wife, earning me brownie points.

And to top this all off, when I sat down to start writing this, Zac Brown was singing “Toes“, a song about having a great time in the sand and salt water, only to have to leave it then making due back home. Hell, I pretty much LIVE where he vacations! Here we are with FHB Tip #3 – The grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence, it greener where you water it. (Ironically, my yard is usually dead and brown since I won’t water the grass – it’s not edible. Yes, a tangent, I know.)

Right now, Tropical Storm Debbie is stalled, threatening to pound of for several more days. Hurricane season is just getting started, and no telling what it may bring. The economy is in the toilet, with no real solution to our debt problem. Food prices are climbing. Governments squeeze us more whenever they can.

But life IS good today….take it home, Zac.

Peace,
db