New neighbors + random photos

Every September our neighbor down the road gets four new red and white steers, and every summer, at the end of August or so, they disappear. We're pretty sure we know what happens to them.

This year the poor creatures were whisked away on schedule – there one day, gone the next, the gate left open on an empty field for more than two weeks – but their replacements did not appear until just before Thanksgiving. Then one day, there they were.



He got five this year instead of four, and he went with solid colors for a change – four reds and a black. They're very young and curious, and wasted no time getting the hell away from me as soon as they realized I was not going to give them anything to eat. I think it was the bike that aroused their suspicion ...



In other baby animal news, Mr. A's niece has a new puppy who's just about as cute as they get.



There's also this – a rubber monster hand we found in the parking lot on the way into a restaurant the other night. Note the partially worn off strips of creepy black fur:



And finally, here's a picture of two ladies dressed in identical outfits that I snapped a couple of months ago intending to post it for Fashion Friday, back before I'd accepted the fact that although this valley I call home may hold many charms an abundance of fabulous fashion photo ops is not one of them. Enjoy!