“Spring is a straggly season,” I observed, as Pep and I poked around the yard. She was the one doing the actual poking – under every bush – looking for rabbit nests (while I kept a watchful eye). “The grass is patchy….
Pepper and Poems
We’d finished supper and Pepper was at my heels “helping” with cleanup. She licked the mostly empty bowls that I put on the kitchen floor and also enthusiastically disposed of the remaining shredded cheese and fritos. When I turned my…
It was a dark and stormy night. Pepper pawed at the back door, jumping up on her hind legs to scratch at the panes of glass she could reach – anxious to get out. “Come!” She called to me. “Come!”…
Nashville’s robins – thousands of them, locals and visitors – made quite a racket over the last few weeks. They spattered my car every day. They seemed agitated, dawn to dusk – or at least they made me feel agitated. I…
You’ll find Kevin Crumbo and Captain Jack Sparrow out at the park before daybreak, sometimes as early as 4 a.m. Conversations take place in the deep, dark quiet of the woods. Today, Kevin is kind enough to share a recent…
There’s a place just beyond where the Grickle-grass grows, in a far back corner of the yard: the Bamboo Forest. Many long years ago, when people long since dead were alive, grandmother planted bamboo because she thought it was pretty. It grew,…
Finally, a ray of sunshine! Pepper and I took advantage. She bounded around the yard securing the border and I did my usual slow circuit. To my dismay, I found the daffodils already 3 and 4 inches high, seemingly overnight….
Another damp late afternoon found Pepper and me puttering around the yard. As daylight faded, a red-tailed hawk soared overhead then landed in a large oak tree. I spotted another red-tailed hawk perched in the same tree, both of them somber…
Gus and I were watching a football game one afternoon while Pepper was busy at work on another project in the sunroom. Later, I discovered what she’d been up to: one of her very favorite toys, a plush peanut butter and…