books and moose

Last night I finished reading The Rainaldi Quartet by Paul Adam. I'm pretty sure it was originally written in Italian and translated to sell in America. It was really a good book -- nothing spectacular or award-winning probably, but good. The story is a murder mystery, but that almost seemed secondary to learning about people and violins. The technical and educational information wasn't boring or tedious at all; the way Adam wrote it made it very interesting. I picked this book up at Value Village, and I'm glad I did; it was definitely worth the fifty cents I think I paid for it :-) (by the way, why is there no "cents" sign on the keyboard? there's a dollar sign, but no cent sign??????)

Yesterday morning, there was a mama and baby moose resting in our neighbors' yard:


So amazing to live in a place where wild animals feel comfortable hanging out in town. To be honest, that was a sarcastic sentence. The first ten years or so, I would've said that sincerely; but now I'm getting a little fed up with all the animals roaming around. I'm afraid to send the kids out without scouting the area for moose and stray dogs. I'm afraid to walk on my normal route because there might be moose on the trail. Everywhere I walk, I'm at least barked at if not sniffed by the million and one dogs in this city. I don't mind so much if they're on leashes or behind fences. I DO mind, though, when they're running around all over the place, interfering with my walk. And I'll try to be kind about my disgust for people who let their dogs do their business outside and don't clean it up so that people don't step in it!!!! Leashes, fences, and pooper-scoopers -- not all people are pet lovers, you know (sorry to be a little offensive there)!!!!!!!!!! Anyway -- back to the moose. The same moose that were taking a rest across the street later came to our yard to eat from our crabapple trees. So glad to do our part to feed the homeless and hungry (more sarcasm, in case you couldn't see it dripping there).