The vapors....

..... an old southern ailment, as in  Darlin', Ah do believe Ah have a case o' the vapors.

And that's what I thought of early today when I looked out the balcony onto the pond... there were vapors of steam coming up from the pond and slowly evaporating into the cool air of the morning.  I guess the temperature of the pond water was warmer than the air above it, and the results were mystical and very beautiful.

Today is the first morning after the time change last night.  Back one hour.... and I don't really like when we have to move the clocks back because it makes the days shorter.... as if we're all getting cheated out of part of the daylight.  I sort of ease into the time change.... I had all the clocks in the house turned back an hour before dinner-time last night.  I started on the third floor and made my way down to the first floor... by the time the clocks were all put back one hour, the entire house was once again in the same time zone.

I can hear shots being fired today.... this is the first full day of deer season, I believe.  Good luck, Bambi.  I just hate hunting seasons..... seems like we just got through with dove season up here.  All those tiny doves that the hunters shoot.... I have no idea why.  Do they really cook and eat those small and beautiful birds?  Or do they just use the doves as target practice until deer season begins?

Our neighbors behind us have a shooting range set up on their property, complete with wooden targets.  There are days when they shoot for hours on end, and you can tell when they change guns because the sounds are different.  About a year ago, they had friends over and it seemed that the shooting went on for half the afternoon over there.  One of the other neighbors called them up and asked "Should we all be worried on this side of the hill?  Has war been declared?"   That gentle hint got them to stop shooting, at least for that particular day.

One of the other neighbors has a deer feeder on his property..... and not far away he also has a deer-blind nestled in the trees.  When the deer come to the feeder, if that neighbor is in his deer-blind, he's got a straight shot at the deer.  So unfair to the deer. Just horrible.

As I type, the shooting on the property behind us is going on and on.... it's getting so that I'm trying to type to the rhythm of the gunshots.  Time to stop typing, since the neighbors aren't going to stop shooting.  I wonder how many shots need to be fired till I can call them up and ask if war has been declared in this part of the Hill Country....