Henry James once said the two most beautiful words in the English language are “Summer Afternoon”. I hope you’re taking advantage of some of your summer afternoons to enjoy the beauty of wherever our are.

The answer that you’re too busy doesn’t pass muster. You’ll be too busy your entire life, then look back and wonder why you have so little joy. The memories need to get made in the moment and now’s the moment.

I’ve been spending more time in our garden this year (having a huge project just go away a couple weeks before the start date will do that). As I put up fence, rototill weeds and just admire the plant growth, I recalled an incident from our previous neighbors.

We live in the country. We’ve generally kept donkeys and sheep and our neighbors had goats and horses. A few years ago a friend stopped up to give us six guinea hens. He heard me mention that I’ve always wanted them. They act as an alarm system, squawking when strangers come around.

So our guineas made themselves comfortable for a few months, managing to avoid getting eaten by the foxes (the fate met by the previous chickens). I didn’t hear them squawk too much, but enjoyed seeing them in the pasture.

Then one evening, just after supper, we got a call from the neighbor woman. I knew she was an absolute animal lover and a very nice person. She said on the phone, “Ned, I just hate having to make this phone call, but your guineas fly over the fence and poop all over our patio furniture. We have to clean off the furniture almost every day. I don’t want to cause any problems, but it really is a pain.”

I said, “Oh I understand. Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.” When I hung up the phone, I said, “Lex, go shoot the guineas.”

Within about a minute and a half, I heard bang, bang, bang, bang, bang and bang. We had six dead guineas (Lex was always a pretty decent shot).

The neighbor lady never mentioned that to me and never called with another complaint. She moved away a couple of years ago, I should have asked her what she thought when the shooting started.

The moral? Make some memories, have some fun, do the unexpected. Give folks something to talk about at your memorial service. It’s coming sooner than you think.