View from the Back Porch

I'm sitting outside on the back porch in Cedar Key trying to enjoy some final hours outside, but it's mostly wet and cold. Not cold, cold, just not the blissfully summerlike day we had yesterday. And wet, did I mention wet? Like sticky humid and rainy. I can see the water from where I sit, which is pretty cool. Anne is out here too, working on her clay projects to prepare for an upcoming Art Walk that will be held in part on this porch in just a few weeks. And we're kinda sorta watching a movie on tv. Steve Martin and Queen Latifa. I'm not committed.

The cat, Smokey Grey, is sitting next to me in a chair I pulled up for him to discourage him from continually trying to sit in my lap and step all over my keyboard. And I just installed Internet Explorer 7. As it was installing Anne said she'd been told to use anything but Explorer 7, and I'm trying not to be worried about how my life is going to be more difficult now.

There's still a mess over by the door. It seems we have a racoon that has decided to visit the last two nights to wash some nuts, and then some cat food in the cat's water. Racoons are compelled to wash their food before eating it. I want to tell him the cat food is already clean, but I haven't had the privlege of a face to face meeting.

Yesterday when I exited the boat on North Key (an unexpected treat, as this is an island I knew nothing about), I hiked a bit back into the brush. I noticed tiny animal footprints as I crossed the sand, but when I hiked up to the top of a large sand dune, I noticed dozens and dozens of tiny footprints that were made by what seems to be quite a large colony of racoons. I didn't see them, but it seemed I'd happened upon the very path they take daily down to the water's edge to wash their food. I marvelled at all that goes on here on these tiny deserted islands when people like us are not invading their shore.

Tomorrow I head back to the big city, and back to a faster (and colder) life. But I'll be back here for Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll give you another update from the back porch then.