Day Lilies, Red Black Raspberries, and a Mullein

June 12, 2010.  Saturday.

Situation:  Moi and I both work tonight, but at separate places.  I could’ve taken Mway out again this morning, for when I came down into the kitchen she was ready for one, but since I didn’t work this afternoon, I postpone it until now, around 3:45.  I have to arouse her from her nap with Moi.  When I open the door, Mway is standing behind it, ready to play the game where she pounces at the doorknob, knocking the door shut, then leaps at the transom window, a game the Boy and I unfortunately taught her to play many years ago (unfortunate because one time she bit the Boy in the nose) and have been unable to train her not to do it anymore.

State of the Path:   One rabbit runs across the lawn beyond the corn crib, another dashes down the path.  Mway misses them both, instead crouching in front of the garden pond to try to poop, but unable to do so if she thinks I’m too close behind her, so that she runs a little farther ahead to try again.  She succeeds by the time we get near the pig pen.  The day lilies just opposite the pig pen are in bloom.  A squirrel scrambles up the branch of a young black walnut tree, bending the branch considerably and making a lot of racket.  The black raspberries are now red along the old orchard; the blackberries out farther in the field are still green.  The goldenrod at the end of the side path is now chin high.  Just before the maples, I see a new wildflower; it’s weirdly shaped like a narrow pyramid, with white flowers on top.  For some reason, I think “mullein,” and when I look in Audubon, although it’s not common mullein, it looks damn close to moth mullein, although the photo doesn’t show its leaves and erect stem for me to be a hundred percent positive about this identification.  (Audubon describes the flowers as having a brown-purplish mark; I recall a pinkish mark, but brown-purplish sounds good enough to me.)  Down by the creek, there seem to be a lot of what I think are starlings, flying low through the bushes and trees, and scolding me nastily.

State of the Creek:  Mway wades into one of the pools in the creek; it’s deep enough that the water pretty much reaches to the top of her legs.

The Fetch:  Up at the clearing, I take my stance just in front of where it’s trampled down a lot, so that Mway, in spinning around, will help keep more of the goldenrod down.  She fetches the “pro-quality” stick more times than I care to count, but probably not as many times as she did yesterday.  When I get back to the house, I’m hot and sweaty.  The neighbor’s kids are in their McPool (which, however, I’m sure is bigger than mine, though I’ve never taken a close look at it), and I could hear their McScreams and McLaughter the whole time on my walk.  Moi tells me that I better hurry to get into our pool, for there are storms in the west of the county.