The Last Big Rush
We haven't left town yet but these last few hours are full, full, full. We're about to depart for a local get together and from there we go downtown to see Patti Smith at The Bite. Tomorrow we aim to leave at the buttcrack of dawn. We'll see.

This is the half-assed version of the post I had planned.

My yard waterers dropped off the face of the earth. I recruited them and asked them to stop by and then phoned them (no answer, no machine) and not a peep. Now we're leaving the house for the rest of the evening so no chance to catch up with them before we go.

I think St. Joe of 44th street (next door neighbor) will cover for us. I can water in the morning and that leaves maybe two days of filling in. I'm mostly concerned about the tomatoes and pumpkins. Tomatoes and cucumbers are bursting on the scene now, of course, when I can't be here to enjoy them. I'm sure there will be tons in Orleans and tons when I return.

Meanwhile, the zucchini bandit was here and dropped off some of his bounty so at the moment I'm doing something creative with things I want to clear out of the fridge which include zucchini, tomatoes, salsa and cucumbers.

I'm 75% packed which is my big downfall — I'm always 75% packed until it's time to load the car, then I'm running around like a crazy person and never fail to forget at least one vital item such as a toothbrush or something to tie my hair back.

Yesterday there was a hawk in the backyard. Only the second time I've see that. It was in the hedge. I think there's a hummingbird nest in there. It flew from the hedge to the apple tree and it's not just that it's big but it's so substantial. I've been trying to find a word to describe it since I saw it and that's the best I can come up with.

It sat in the apple tree for a few minutes while at least a half dozen hummingbirds buzzed it and chittered away. I've never seen them so noisy. Meanwhile, high above on the powerlines, a row goldfinch (? - not a bird expert but that's my best guess) did their best not to attract any attention. Finally the hawk swooped out of the tree and over my head, really amazing sight, and then did a couple of turns over the yard, with the hummingbirds in hot pursuit, before it took off for other parts of the neighborhood. About 3 minutes later, a buzzard flew right over the yard. Huge bird, right overhead.

Big thrills in suburbia.

In my last post I mentioned my appetite had been weird and about 30 minutes after I posted I ate a half a pan of lasagna. I guess I'm back to normal. But just in case this blog has some sort of supernatural qualities, I'm going to complain that I never win the lottery jackpot.

Last few items to keep you busy while I'm offline.

Here's the Flickr set from last year's trip: Orleans 06.

I just updated my Flickr stream with photos from the July trip.

My favorite regular blog read is Jezebel including what is probably my favorite post and comment thread of all time. (Totally NSFW.)

boingboing.net also never fails to please.

I'm signing off. Have a good week and be back soon.