Since we don’t have the TeeVee machine here at Harstine (no cable and no satellite dish), I followed the U.S.-Canada gold medal hockey game live on Twitter (which was fun because it’s like being in a big room with a bunch of people conversing via telepathy). So exciting to force the OT in the last seconds! But then. Oh, it was so close. It was a great match, and Canada must be feeling pretty darned proud of these Games. They’ve been wonderful. (And now comes the major case of withdrawals that I always suffer after the Olympics are over).
We’ve been at Harstine since Friday afternoon (John got off work a little early) and finally today it was decent enough to venture outside of the trailer. Man. After our warm January and February, things are sprouting all over the place and the crocuses I planted in the fall are all blooming in their purple glory! However, they’re laying rather flat from all the battering from the rain. A couple of beach walk scenes today:
See Mojo resting under the log? Of course he accompanied us!
Speaking of Mojo, the strangest thing happened last night (and I’ll never know the actual cause of it). John was already in bed (I was reading a Kindle book) and suddenly Mojo shot like a rocket inside the window we leave open for him. That part isn’t unusual; he always shoots in that window like a rocket. In fact, two times prior to that he’d shot inside that window with a mouse clamped in his jaws, but I digress. Mojo proceeded to go insane. He flew to the back of the trailer and ricocheted off the far wall, leaped to the countertop, leaped to the table top, tore to the back of the trailer again, landed back on the table top where he paused for just a second to peer outside, then scrambled to the open window where he perched staring out in the darkness. Then AGAIN he let loose like a ping pong ball bouncing off of every hard surface in the trailer! That cat was terrified. His eyes were plates. He did not utter a single sound; he was in some kind of basic basal lowest denominator of brain function, I swear. Utterly terrified. I looked hard outside into the dark, but I couldn’t detect anything — no movement, no glowy eyes, nothing. I mean, this is the cat who has treed raccoons! Once, he even took off after a deer! He’ll stay out of sight when company comes with dogs, but that’s just a common sense tactic, not one based in fear. Mojo is the animal who instills fear in other animals, not the other way around. I’ve never seen him behave that way before. Ever. I figured there had to be a mountain lion or a bear or maybe even a T-Rex out there for him to react that strongly! He then proceeded to stay inside the rest of the night, curled up right next to John in the bed. He didn’t move all night long. Again, unheard of!
John thinks it might have been a coyote. No evidence of that this morning —I was looking for tracks of something….and stepped in dog shit for the third time this weekend. 
But I do know they’re around sometimes. Never seen one, but we hear them now and then. It’ll just have to be a mystery, I guess. Thankfully, Mojo had all his faculties back by daylight.
~~~~~
Strange yesterday to see an alert on my iPhone weather app for a “Tsunami Advisory.” How surreal! There was little concern, really, other than the possibility of some strong currents and minor tidal changes, but nothing noticeable occurred. I did watch a live stream on my computer in Hawaii at Hilo, though, and it was interesting to see the water “inhale and exhale.” A little anti-climatic, I suppose, but that’s a good thing. I just hope people don’t shrug off these types of warnings in the future because, who knows?
Update after closing ceremonies: Giant inflatable beavers? Seriously?
~~~~~
