The River Took the Ball (But Gave Me a Good Day Anyway) Apparently I’m a landlord now — to bees. I discovered this when I noticed a steady parade of them marching in and out from under my deck like they were clocking in for a shift. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds. And somewhere down there, I’m pretty sure there’s a queen living her best life. The problem? There’s concrete under the deck, so I can’t just poke around and see what’s going on. And I’m not about to evict them with force. Bees are important, and I’m not trying to be the villain in their tiny bee‑drama. So now I’m in research mode, trying to figure out how to get them out safely without tearing up half my backyard. It’s going to be a process — but hey, at least it’ll make for an interesting blog entry. A Day at the River (and the Ball That Got Away) The dog and I have our little routine down at the river bottom. It’s our quiet place — just the two of us, a chair, a brush, and a ball. Most days we sit right in the w...
A dropped ball, a clean riverbank, a quiet car ride, and a dog grinning her way through the heat. A Warm Wednesday at the River I walked down to the river this afternoon, ball in hand — or so I thought. Turns out I dropped it back at the park entrance while picking up dog dirt. That’s the kind of distraction the river has on me; once I’m headed toward the water, everything else fades out. Someone had left a pair of socks on the riverbank, so I tossed them in the garbage on my way through, trying to keep the place a little cleaner. Dad joined me for about an hour, and we tossed the ball once I finally realized I’d lost it and grabbed another. Dixie got her turns too, splashing in and out of the water, absolutely thrilled. She had that big dog‑grin going, brown eyes shining straight into the camera like she knew she was having a perfect day. It hit 28°C today, warm enough that the coulee felt like the right place to be. Dixie was a surprisingly good car rider — not a single bark on...