WEIRD DAY...

Okay, first of all, I want to say that today's photo is of a dead animal - a bobcat - that I found alongside the highway today. It's not bloody or anything, but I just thought I'd say it up front in case anyone wants to 'not look'. It's at the end of this entry. And it has nothing to do with the main subject of tonight's entry, other than I saw it today.

Shabree and I went to Mass this morning, then went on to Beeville shortly after, to take Patti-Jo to the vet to get the last of her shots, and to get her weighed again, for an update on her heartworm pills. Shabree also needed boots for riding Starlight, and some new church shoes and a couple of pairs of sandals. So we got all that done, and then came back toward Skidmore. I saw someone stopped just off the northbound side of the highway, and noticed they were looking at what appeared to be a bobcat. So I got in the lane for the next turnaround and went back, and it was a bobcat. I hadn't seen it when I was on that road earlier, but I may have just not been looking. I guess it had been hit and killed by a car. Bobcats are not endangered, but they are also an animal that you don't see too often, because of their stealthiness.

Now on to why today was so weird...
I just noticed the weirdest thing around 8:30 tonight. The big log from our front yard is GONE. Our double driveway/basketball area is directly in front of our
front door. One one whole side of it (across from the basketball hoop)is a flower bed, with the end closest to the house, holding a big rotted tree trunk section. It was on it's side, with a hole most of the length (about a yard). Inside the hole was dirt and non-descript plants. The whole thing was pretty rotted and unkept as it had been sitting there for years. But it still would have been heavy, and rotted as it was, probably messy to get out.... I would think.

It was there yesterday in the evening, because I weeded the flower bed then, while Chuck was out there watching the bbq grill, so the new stray dog wouldn't get the pork ribs. So, I would have to think the tree 'stump'/trunk was taken today. It could have been last night, but I just think I would have noticed earlier today when I was in and out.

Plus, today around 4:30 or so, the new stray dog (who stays in the front yard) was barking a little, and oddly. I was the only one home at the time. Chuck had come home early, and taken Shabree over to our cabin jto swim with Zachary and Mathieu. I didn't look at first, but when I did, I just quickly looked out the small glass pane in the front door, and two side windows. I really couldn't see anything. It was kind of a blind spot. And what baffles me is that there is no trace of crumbled bark or wood pieces and no tracks in the taller grass that has come up since the heavy rain we had all last week. That seems to indicate that it was carried (and it's heavy), not dragged, and that whoever took it walked on the shorter grass closer to the house or else walked on the cement.

Add to that, that our inside/outside dogs, Carl and Coconut, have been acting weird about the front door lately. Part of it was because of the new stray dog that
took up here. She stays in the front yard, and since she is not really 'ours' is not so much a watch dog. She doesn't necessarily distinguish between us or strangers. But Carl and Coconut have gotten used to her, and while they might sniff under the door suspiciously, they wouldn't act scared and on edge for the past several days like they've been doing...Mostly in the early evening and on in the night. Coconut is really acting tense and fearful, and it's all centered around the living room and front door.
And Carl, who is a BIG dog) doesn't even hardly want to go out in the front yard anymore. He goes out maybe twice daily, when I insist. He is wanting in the fenced backyard as his first choice, but I really don't want him out there, because he - even though he is big - gets over or through the fence somewhere, (I have no idea how or where) and I don't want him teaching Coconut or Patti-Jo (our backyard dog) how to do it.

The log is nothing anyone would want. Even if someone were having a bonfire, there are better pieces of wood all around. It has no value whatsoever, and needed to be hauled off, actually. I am glad it is gone. But why did someone take it?

Chuck had just gone to bed a little while before, when I noticed it was missing, so I went in, woke him up and asked if he hauled it away by some chance. He hadn't, and couldn't believe it was gone either, so got up, went out and looked around. He swore it was there earlier today, but then as we discussed it, was not exactly 100% sure he had seen it when he got home around 3 or 3:30pm.

I called both of our in town sons, and they sure hadn't done anything with it, or noticed anything. Reagan is good about driving by our house and looking, whenever he is coming or going anywhere. But he is going to be in Louisiana for work for the next few days. Garrett said he'd be more on the lookout too. And the thing is, there have been lots of little 'odd' things outside over the past few weeks, but nothing really hard and fast that you could put your finger on until today. A large missing log is something tangible and undeniable.

Anyway... I guess that's all. I just wanted to vent. It is just so puzzling.