party season for raccoons, I guess

So I'm trying to gather the strength to go to bed and the dog keeps barking. Earlier she rushed out of the house in a blind fury and treed a raccoon in the apple tree. Sounds so -- pastoral or something, right? Remember, I live in the "inner city" part of a college town. Anyway, I brought the dog in an she is restless hours later because the raccoons are having some kind of party in the almond trees --in the fall I swear they get drunk on rotting apples, but at this time of year there's only green almonds, and I doubt they make you drunk. Maybe raccoons.

Remember back in February I said it was high spring and some of you guys who live in other climates were jealous? And I said just wait till May when the summer drought starts and all the green hills here turn yellow and you're still in the middle of spring?

Here 'tis. Dry old hills, the grinning phantom of wildfire gathering its smoky old cloak, and it's summer. We got the tourists to prove it.

The raccoons seem to have gone to bed at last, and so will I.