Why

A rough day, for the first half, anyway, reminding me I am not out of the woods yet and must watch my intake. Too bad, yet the ribs were done to perfection and the new sauce we tried suited the meat. Maybe it wasn't the pork, but the two beers or the handful of baked "fries." Or the pine pollen. Or the labor involved taking yet more limbs out of the flowering plums. (Thumper was a little skittish as well.) But nothing like twelve hours of sleep to put things right.

Hence, I still have a little steam in my engine at this late hour. Paint is drying, I've read a bit and managed a bit of the game we all love.  And as you know, it's quite a good feeling when you flop the nut flush after calling a raise. As it turns out, he had two pair, which made getting pot committed for a jam while waiting for the river a bit of fun. Only wish it was real, except for Thumper.

Oh, there is more poker I could tell you about, how rough it was for the first six days of the week, losing four buy-ins in that time. A bad run made worse by becoming incredulous. Again, we all know, but sometimes not enough to know better for a while; and then, fortunately, we come to our senses and the run-good we all know returns as well, and three of those buy-ins are recouped in one short game.

No, poker is more of a distraction these days, meaning that I default to it after everything else has been attended to, at least to a degree that I can say it has been attended to in an ongoing fashion. Markers. An idea from reading that won't let me concentrate enough to read another word. The idea put to paint and then let dry or to jotted down to await further elucidation.

"I've seen higher scores, but you're up there."  I've always been a good test taker, even being such a scatter brain. That's what they used to call it. Remember?

No matter. Eyes open.

The wife added another note at that level so I'd be sure to see it... among the other notes?

But I didn't come here to tell you this, though it may explain a lot, stylistically. No, I wanted to say that the cottonwood seeds are dusting the pavement, the frogs are still chirping away, the Christmas tree farmer sprayed for weeds, a new house is going up on our road, I missed a scotch broom out back when I sprayed last week, my mower blades need leveled and