House inspection. Boy there is a lot involved in purchasing a home. And many people too. This guy was gracious enough to meet the rodents living under the manufactured home we wish to make our own. Pace also wanted to meet them, but we told he she would have to wait a few more weeks. CMC.

These guys are the reasons (about two to a couple thousand of them, depending on the day) I’ve been neglecting you. ALM.

After purchasing our yearly dose of cider donuts and meeting with the crippled goat, apparently all hell broke loose at the cider mill:

Woman killed, man wounded at Olympia farm stand

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009936105_webfatalshooting24m.html

Something terrible happened to the squirrel family residing here. Troubling. CMC.

Not as fun as posting photos, but more socially required; thank you cards. CMC.

(I’m still here). This could be our commute soon. Cross your fingers. CMC.

The neighbors. (last week, Emma and I encountered all four of them guarding the wooden bridge — if there was any doubt that Marcola is a fairy tale). ALM.

The neighbors. ALM.

… and the fence between us. ALM.

A date of local note in Eugene, a sign of the seasons and fall’s signifier: the late-August diving funnel of Vaux’s swifts roosts in the chimney at 17th and Agate (they also have reservations in Portland, it seems). They come from Seattle (I think?) and winter in California. Thousands, every night, for two weeks! They flock for a while in the sky, massing and churning to a presumed conductor, before smearing themselves inside the brick tower. I hail their low-maintenance bedding habits. I get frightfully grumpy with out a certain standard of creature comforts, including the right to cool feet, and a whirring fan. I wrote a short verse, optimistically speculating that the swifts, as birds, have at least the audio requisite covered, sine qua non. Here it is: resting swifts after flight / chirping noises of white. ALM.