Insane in the Membrane

I have been MIA again. Still busy with the house. Last weekend we were swarmed by bees and now have our own honeybee hive. That led to cutting down all of the old trees in our backyard. Which, in turn, led to the pseudo-orphaning of two little baby mourning doves and then the cruel agony of watching mama bird return later to no nest, no babies, and a torrential downpour that lasted all night. Mr. J and I were both in tears about that. She has finally left the area, so I no longer have to hear her telltale call. I will never be able to listen to a mourning dove again without getting a big ol' lump in my throat.

The swarm, settling down in one of our former trees

The swarm's new home

This horrendous juniper is now long gone,
as are the birds who had made it their home. Sorry birds!!

I have not forgotten about the GMBOA contest. I have an idea, courtesy of Mr. J, that I think you will like. But I need a little time to flesh it out, and this week, time is something I don't have a lot of. [ouch ... "a lot" and ending a sentence in a preposition. But I'm in no mood for wordsmithing right now]

What's on my mind right this very minute is that we are going on our first rafting trip this weekend on the raging Lochsa River up near Lolo Pass. Apparently this is the spot along Lewis and Clark's adventures where they had to kill a colt to feed the crew, where they faced near starvation, and where they were caught in an unseasonable snowstorm. And from what Mr. J just called out to me about the weather, I think that we may be in for a wet, cold weekend ... and not because of the river water. Thus the title of the post ... What are we thinking?! But it will be fun, and we'll have stories to tell. And I'm hoping none of those stories will have to do with the killing of colts or mourning dove abuse or frostbite leading to gangrene.

So, when I return on Monday, after my fingers thaw out so that I'm able to type again, I will be here with the GMBOA contest and possibly a story or two of the craziness that was our weekend.