More fall color

The oxblood lilies are now appearing in ever greater numbers, thanks to that bit of dampness. Where there've been some, there are many more. Squirrel-planted clumps are under and completely protected by a lantana out front. Others are scattered in various places. The first lily on the oak motte has appeared. As some crops approach the tempting stage, some farmers get out there ready for some plinking with their shotguns. It's easy to understand why, with the great increase in brazen flower-stealers. It's amazing what people will do when they think that nobody's looking. We, however, have open windows, quiet fans, unimpaired hearing, and a good slightline when it comes to the very few flowers we still bother with out front. When "drop those flowers!" rings out, some run with the flowers, some drop the flowers and then run, and some mutter an insincere "sorry" and saunter on, with flowers still in hand of course, tempting one, if properly dressed, to charge out and grab them back. These last creeps are like the ones who let their dogs drop large ones and then, if they observe that they're observed, say, "Oh! I forgot to bring a newspaper tube this time. You don't happen to have one, do you?" The proper answer is, "Yeah; right!" The quality of new neighbors appears to be falling: they may drive big, new, expensive vehicles but they have tiny, cheap, ill-mannered brains. That's just one misanthrope's opinion.