"a poem lovely as a tree"

Moving right along, leaving the shrew behind....

When the bill came I wondered what you'd have to pay me to climb a tree some 20-degree day, and, with nothing more than a leather strap between me and a broken back, start trimming.  Probably a bit more than these arborists who did a good job.  Trees really enhance life and are poetic to people who like Kilmer's poem, one of the few that I memorized.  It's short and rhymes.

the clue--a shrew

I asked what the pest guy is doing coming by early January.  He found a reason.  Apparently one pest was moving about.  An adolescent rat?  He thinks it's a shrew.  A shrew?  Thought that was a renaissance rodent Shakespeare wrote about.  No, I'm told.  This is related to the vole, an insect-, berry-, and nut-eating critter. There was no struggle this zero-degree day.  That rat trap (bigger than it looks) could severely hurt your finger.

no room at the inn--try the barn

The cold finally drove this vagabond inside.  Sunday evening was water and bread with peanut butter.  Same thing this morning and lunch.  Slowly began to trust me.  The last time I went to the barn he was at the door, but retreated when I entered.  But the inevitable--the township police.  First one with mere gloves.  Seeing the animal, he called back-up with a loop.  I don't want a dog, but my heart went out to this one as they walked him to the car.  I tried to be upbeat:  "hope this is the worst you see today, thanks."

Some kind of mastiff breed?  Trained, anyway.  As soon as he got out the barn door he peed; as the officer nudged, pushed and finally half-lifted him into the cruiser he pooped on the officer's shoe.  "Can I get you paper towels?"  Nah!  That one was not inclined to fraternize with civilians.

ring in the new

Moments before midnight, family gathered in western Maryland climbed steps to the abandoned church's bell and rang it fourteen times.  Flashlights required.  Around me are nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and grand-nephews and family by marriage waiting their turn to pull the rope.

New Year's Eve

Enjoyed spending New Year's Eve in Grantsville, Maryland, with family.  In the final hours of 2013 we gathered in the Casselman dining room.  One family of four children makes music as a string quartet.  I stopped in the center of town to look at this antique store in blue lights.