THE CURIOUS CROC CAPER

As most of you know, I have been away from home for the past two and a half weeks assisting my ailing dad. During this time, we had a good deal of rain here in Burnet. This is a portion of my back yard as it appeared, overgrown with weeds, when I returned home. In the rear by the tree, one of my outdoor shoes known as "Crocs", is ensconced in a nearly dry birdbath. The yellow, concrete one had been overturned. Upon examination, I saw that the shoe had been nearly destroyed by "something" chewing on it! The mate has disappeared completely!

There is a wide hole going into the crawlspace beneath my house that I have had chicken wire stapled over several times. A creature of some kind keeps working the chicken wire loose to access this space. I called our local animal control officer and explained what I had found. She appeared shortly, accompanied by a police officer who has an interest in the wildlife around here. I told them that my neighbor had seen a raccoon in my yard a couple of years ago. (See MORE MUSINGS, August 2010) We even set a trap when said raccoon began to raid their tomato plants. At that time, we netted a feral cat, and the raccoon ceased its nighttime forays. The policeman, who had 15 pet raccoons at one time, said he never knew them to chew up anything. When I told him I had found some leftover suet in the birdbath earlier this year, he said that did sound like a raccoon. They are often able to open doors to cages such as the one that held the suet.

Looking at the destruction of this hard rubber shoe, I am reminded of puppies who chew anything and everything when they are cutting teeth. I looked up some of the behavior of raccoons on the internet, and much to my dismay I discovered they can have litters of up to seven little ones!! 

We set a trap with cat food, hung a piece of bread with peanut butter and jelly (the officer said they have a sweet tooth) in the suet basket, and I awaited daylight. I was up at 5:30 with my flashlight trying to see what we had captured. It was a very large house cat! Probably someone's pet. The animal control officer came and reset the trap while I was gone this morning. I wonder what we will capture tonight.

My property is across a busy highway from a wooded, hilly area. In the winter, my former neighbor (a night owl who awakens easily) has seen deer in my back yard. Unfortunately, due to the droughts we have suffered in this part of Texas, the deer migrate to neighborhoods to feed and many of their fawns are hit by cars and killed.

Day 2 -- We have one smart raccoon, if that's what it is. This morning the peanut butter and jelly had been removed from the suet cage, the trap door was still set but the can of cat food was empty and turned upside down in the birdbath, and the second Croc was now missing, too! I have a call into animal control. Maybe we will try another tactic. I'll keep you posted.

Peace,
Marilyn

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING HERE?

Joe Btfsplk by Al Capp

Remember the old L'il Abner comic strip by Al Capp? There was one character that walked around with a dark raincloud over his head. We were made to think that trouble followed him around because he was a "gloomy gus". Lately I feel like that little guy. The past few months there have been things happening to objects in my life that make me think that I might be causing them.

I remember reading articles and even seeing some television programs throughout the years about poltergeist phenomena. Maybe the occurrences I have noticed have been due to my mental or emotional state. I haven't recognized any overt hostility in my personality, but then, I may not be the best person to recognize that. It's hard to be objective.

Now, don't get me wrong, there haven't been any flying objects or furniture moving around or things going bump in the night. It's just that things mechanical, electrical, and electronic that belong to me or are contained in my environment are breaking down! A few of them are major, and some are only minor. 

This is an old photo of my Jeep taken in a rare Texas snowfall. It was old then, even older now! Since the first of the year I have had to call AAA twice (thank you, son-in-law, Branch), having it towed once. It was in and out of the repair shop, and then at my son Matthew's (thank you, Matt) for his expert care and repair. I was without wheels for the better part of two months. I jokingly said that my Jeep is wearing out and beginning to show its age -- like me!

The day after I got my car back, I lost my cable internet service completely. That affected my telephone, which is an internet phone I have used for years, television service, Roku (which allows me to watch Netflix on my TV), and worst of all -- my computer was down for days!

Luckily, I have a little Tracfone that I carry with me in my car in case of car trouble. I called my son about the internet, and as he advised, I called my cable internet provider. To no avail. This second call gave me an error message and told me to call Tracfone's Customer Service Line. Of course, it went through. After talking to two different people somewhere in Asia (I could not understand the name of their country due to their heavy accents), I was so angry I was breathing fire into the phone!

You see, when you purchase a Tracfone you buy so many minutes and so many of what they call "service days". When the service days run out, they send you a message that you need to buy more days (and minutes). So I did. For several years I did - at $20 a pop. I had over 1,800 minutes accrued when son Matthew told me I didn't need to keep buying more. To just use the minutes already on the phone. I still had over 1,800 minutes, as I had rarely used it. However, the service reps in Asia kept telling me I needed to buy another phone (they had a special on at the time) or purchase more days. I yelled at them (shame on me). The young male supervisor said there must be something wrong with the phone and they could not check it out while I was using it. To "please call back on another phone". ("I don't have another telephone, that's why I'm using this blankety-blank phone!") He said if I would purchase a new Tracfone they would credit me with the minutes I have left on this one. I yelled again that I DO NOT WANT A NEW PHONE! At this point, he finally told me to take out the battery in my phone and reinsert it in 5 minutes. No easy feat, but I finally got it out, and the telephone now works fine. I don't know how long I have before I have to go through this whole scenario again.

I was finally able to call the cable company, but had to wait two days for someone to come, and he still didn't get everything connected. I'm still having to use the dratted cell phone, but at least I now have internet and my beloved (seriously) computer. And I can again watch movies on Netflix if I get bored.

Also in the past two months, my coffeemaker and my hair dryer both went kaput! That's not important unless you have just got out of the shower with a wet head and have an appointment in an hour -- and are on your way to the kitchen for that first cup of coffee only to discover cold water and no coffee! I guess there is something to be said for keeping instant coffee on hand.. ugh.

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I don't know where each of you lives, but here in the Hill Country of Texas we have been having a particularly warm spring. Temperatures have already climbed into the 90s during the day, and at night it's frequently in the 80s until the wee hours of the morning. Last night was one of those hot nights. I kept looking at the thermostat, checking the weather on the internet, and wondering if I were suffering some kind of late-in-life hot flashes. I could not get the temperature down below 79 degrees by the time I went to bed. It was still 79 degrees when I woke at 3:30 am, tossing and turning from the heat. I am now waiting on the a/c repairman.

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I have searched my memory, and as a matter of fact, maybe my mental and emotional state does have something to do with all of the occurrences around here. I guess I have been a little angry or upset with a couple of folks in the last few months... Maybe I have been holding onto some resentment for real or imagined wrongs I've suffered... Whew! Right now, let me state to the Universe, "I FORGIVE EVERYONE OF EVERYTHING! AND I ASK YOUR FORGIVENESS AS WELL!" There! Now enough already of the breakdown of all things mechanical, electrical, electronic, and oh yes, physical in my life! 

And if the a/c repairman doesn't hurry up ... oh well, I'll just have to forgive him, too!

Peace,

Marilyn

Another memory jogged...

I received an email from Mary, a long-time friend from Denton, shaman, herbalist extra-ordinaire, and sometime FEMA employee, who has her own memories of the days of segregation. She shared a few of them with me.

Texas Cotton Field

"There was a black family who worked for my mom and dad on the farm. Sadie, aka 'Nigger Sadie', helped my mom around the house and with my brother and sister when she (and sometimes my mom) wasn't out picking cotton or corn or tending the animals. These two women worked side by side. Pappy, Sadie's man, helped my dad. I never knew his given name, and I knew him throughout my childhood and into my early twenties.

Later, when I was born, Sadie helped take care of me while my mom would be tending to some of the older members of the family. Then, when I was about 4 years old, my dad sold his farm. Of course, we all moved to town, and Sadie and Pappy moved to the side of town across from the tracks. They continued to work for us and other people as well.

I remember when Sadie and I rode the bus, she could sit anywhere she wanted when I was with her. I always wanted to sit at the back because that was where a lot of her friends were, and I knew them.  

Growing up in a smallish town was a blessing for me. I knew a lot of black people and had no fear of them. When I married Stephen, who was originally from Illinois and Indiana, he thought it weird that I knew so many blacks and had no fear. I thought of them as friends and felt welcome in their homes. It took years for me to break down those walls he had built up around himself concerning black people.

I went to TWU the first year it was integrated, and I thought it strange that such a to-do was made of it -- even though I had never gone to school at home with a black person. It was during that time that TWU also was letting an occasional male take classes there!"

Editor: Maybe that was true integration, Mary!

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On another note, grandson Travis is doing well at pitching in Little League this year. Sure makes his dad proud. And this Grandmommy as well! He not only plays baseball, but is making the Honor Roll in school as well. That's what I call a well-rounded boy!

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My two oldest grandchildren will both graduate from college in May. Audrey and Cameron are going to be treated to a big celebration in Dallas. Lots of family and friends. I plan to take plenty of photos, and get some first-hand information about their plans for the coming year. I already have an inkling about both, but want to hear it from their own mouths! Two beautiful, talented young people I expect to make a mark in the world.

Peace and love,

Marilyn

Post Script to "I remember.."

A long-time friend of mine from Albuquerque, Ruth (an American physician), spent her childhood in India -- with a missionary minister father and physician mother.  She had this to say about an experience she had as a child:

"Hard to believe you were around then.  I was too, but half way around the world. I remember an incident on the drive to Mobile, Alabama from Indiana to catch the ship [freighter] back to India after the war.   We were already crowded into a small jeep, but Dad stopped and offered an old gentleman [negro as we called them in those days] a ride.   He tipped his hat, thanked us kindly and said he was fine walking.  He would have been lynched or beaten if he had taken us up on the ride.   

When we got to town we stopped at the bus depot to use their toilets. Instead of going to the white section, my folks went thru the black waiting room to the toilets.   Someone [a black] kindly pointed out that the white section was 'over there’.   And my mother replied we were just fine where we were [or some such]!  I’m sure we [those damn northerners] were followed out of town by the sheriff, to make sure we were just passing thru and not there to make trouble.   I’m not sure how my parents explained it to us re the bathrooms other than to say the blacks were made to use their 'own toilets', but they did say the old gentleman would have been in trouble if he had accepted our offer for the ride.   Since we were usually the only whites for several miles around, among all those Indians, I never thought anything re being with colored folk. 

And I even remember offering a man [German] my candy bar on a train, and he declined as the person spoke up who was escorting them to some camp.   I surely didn’t think my mother’s explanation indicated the necessity of them having to go to special camps, and nor did she.  And that he couldn’t accept my candy bar was the height of stupidity on the part of Americans!!"

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Her story reminds me of a friend I had in Waco back in the 50s telling me that her family lived in East Texas, and that during WWII there was a German POW camp near their home. She said that the German prisoners frequently escaped and came through their country property. Once, one knocked on the door and her mother gave him some food. He was so young, her mothering instincts kicked in. Kindness knows no color or nationality.

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Mea culpa! I reported in my last blog that yesterday was Earth Day. I wondered why I saw nothing on the news of people celebrating the Earth yesterday! It's because it's today! This morning I read one of my favorite blogs by a minister in the Appalachians.  She happens to be on vacation in Scotland at this time, but manages to get a brief blog post out every day. This one is such a unique thought that I want to share it with you.  The name of her blog is "If Beth had a blog..": http://ifbethhadablog.blogspot.com/ I think she pleases God with her poetry, her sense of humor, and her keen understanding of what it is to be human on this planet.

The little wren and her mate are busy, as they have a nest going in my wren house on the front porch. Put some birdseed out for the birds.. or catch a bug and feed a wren! It's not too late..  Happy Earth Day!

Peace and love,

Marilyn

I remember it well..

President Obama in Famous Rosa Parks Bus April '12

I saw this online this morning and wondered what the President must be thinking. He wasn't even born when Rosa Parks made her stand and refused to give up her seat on this bus to a white man. I remember it well, though. I was in high school. At the time of her famous ride, it brought to my mind the many years growing up in San Antonio, Texas that I rode the city buses. If there were a seat available, I would sit at the very back of the "white" section in order to listen to the African -Americans talk. I was fascinated by them individually and as a culture. As part of the time I spent doing this was in the late forties, a lot of the conversations were sprinkled with what was probably the "jive talk" of the day. To me it sounded like a foreign language. I thought they were an exotic race of people. And I loved the fact that most of the time they were laughing and enjoying each other's company. Looking back, I suspect their laughter might have been to keep from crying at such unfair, humiliating treatment.

I was very curious about the "special" treatment I thought that blacks were receiving -- I often would sneak a drink out of their water fountains that were labeled "Colored Only". Surely it must taste different than ours at the "Whites Only" fountain. Of course it didn't. As a young child I never ever thought of the real meaning behind segregation. Prejudice is not inherent in children.  We know that they must be taught to hate.

Rosa Parks 1913-2005

What a courageous, great lady Rosa Parks was. She is known as the "First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement".

I have known a few African-Americans personally in my lifetime. Most of them were just like me in their beliefs and dreams, and many were higher achievers than I. The first time I was in a school class with one was in California in the eighth grade. I tried to make friends with the young girl, but she rebuffed my offer of friendship. Looking back, I remember she seemed scared to even talk to me. What a shame that the treatment of parents of children during that time caused them so much suffering and fear. It took the likes of Rosa Parks, the brave Freedom Riders, and the first young teenagers who ventured into the white schools in Arkansas and Alabama during the early years of the civil rights movement to bring about the society of today when we are witnessing the first black President. How proud Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King (in the background of her photo) would be!

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March 31, 2012

We recently observed Earth Hour. Every year more and more countries "turn out the lights" to encourage environmental consciousness. For one hour the lights went out! I read my library book for that hour by the light of my great-grandmother's kerosene lamp. The flash of my camera makes it appear to be much brighter than it was in reality. It is not easy on aging eyes! As I squinted at times, I remembered the tale of how young Abraham Lincoln often studied his law books by light from the fireplace. I don't know if that is just another legend, but I resisted the urge to stop reading and continued to do so for the whole hour. If he could, I could!

Tomorrow, April 21st, is Earth Day. If nothing else, why not go to your local nursery, if you haven't already, and pick up a few veggie or flower plants and stick them in our Mother Earth? One good thing that has happened in our small community just in time for Earth Day is the institution of a recycling program! Now that's a great way to honor the earth!

Peace,

Marilyn

SPRING FEVER, FLOWERS, and.. OH, YES! A FAT ANGEL

Sitting by my breakfast area window, eating blueberry muffins fresh from the oven, and watching the gentle April shower fall on my resident Robin, who was ready to pounce on the earthworms that the rain surely would bring to the surface, I mused on the effects of a mild winter, good rains that soaked our drought-ridden Texas landscape, and the arrival of an early spring as a result. Flowers that bloom in my yard in April, May or June, started blooming profusely in March. The honeysuckle vine that normally doesn't bloom much at all because it is at the far side of my back yard and doesn't get watered very often, is full of fragrant blossoms. The star jasmine vines in my front yard have never bloomed earlier than June, and are heavy laden with the tiny "Confederate" stars. Their fragrance wafts over anyone who ventures past the vines.

I have always loved Vincent Van Gogh's painting, Blue Irises, and after several years of nurturing, and even transplanting them from my last home, I finally have a decent start to having my own living replica of that famous work of art. They, too, bloomed early and I was sad to see the last blossoms die last week.

The birds came early also, and have delighted me with their antics at the bird feeder and birdbaths in the back yard. I had flocks of goldfinches and cedar waxwings again, and even a few beautiful red wing blackbirds. A tiny wren is nesting in the small birdhouse beside my living room window. Unfortunately, I get caught up in spring fever, and I'm slow to reach for my camera. I even missed seeing the bald eagles feeding their young this year. My cranky auto, an aging Jeep, kept me from venturing along the back roads in the county, and I missed out seeing what I hear was an abundance of wildflowers as well. I was satisfied with the marching buttercups in my backyard, the tiny purple henbits and oxalis that bloomed all over my and my neighbor's yards. I would like to plant bluebonnets, however, the birds would love that I'm sure! They would eat the scattered seeds before they ever had a chance to take root.

The Abominable Snow Cat

The bird feeder and the water I put out for them happen to be a magnet for neighborhood and stray cats alike. I usually just watch the cats sneak into the yard for a drink. If I see one who seems to be lurking and ready to pounce on an unsuspecting bird, I will rap on the window and most will quickly vacate the yard. Except for the one above, whom I call "Yeti Kitty", due to the fact that he is so huge and so illusive when I try to take his photo. I say "he" because the one time I saw him up close through the chain link fence, I noticed his jowls are wide and scarred from many fights. I think he is a stray because his beautiful coat is matted and dirty. Yeti Kitty only shows himself occasionally at dusk. Sometimes I think he might be sleeping days under my house and ventures out to drink the water before going hunting at night. This photo was taken through my kitchen window with the zoom feature. If I make a noise, he will look my way, then mosey out of the yard at his own pace.

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I'm sure you wonder why on earth I'm talking about a "fat angel". Lately, a funny story popped into my head I wanted to share with you. Years ago, a good friend of mine was working at a health club in Houston. Part of her job was to show new people around the club and let them try its equipment. The first visit was free. Then, the employees were expected to "sell" the customer a membership. There was a small room set aside for this consultation, complete with a two-way mirror, so the supervisors could check in from time to time to see how the employee performed. Now Jane was a dynamic little blond with a gift of gab. She went through the whole spiel, and was taken aback by the chubby young woman's response. It seems the woman was a member of a particular religious sect whose members believed the "end of the world" was imminent and, therefore, she wouldn't be here to take advantage of even a six month membership. Ever resourceful, Jane hesitated only a minute, then came back with, "Well, now, you don't want to be a fat angel, do you?"  Gales of laughter could be heard through the walls as Jane's superiors collapsed. (She obviously didn't make the sale!)

May your spring put more than a spring in your step!

Peace and love,

Marilyn

LICENSE TO KILL

This was on a Russian online news site recently... The way the world views us?

Glocked and loaded?  It is more than a little scary to me that my 93-year-old father who is starting to have serious lapses of memory, told me recently that he keeps his loaded pistol right by him, and will shoot any "intruder" who comes into his home.  When I said to him that he didn't want to end up in jail at his age, he responded, "I won't go to jail - it's not illegal to shoot an intruder."  I might add that he is an avid fan of FOXNews.

BRAVO!

• To the Special Prosecutor in Sanford, Florida for arresting George Zimmerman for shooting the unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.

• To the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey for rushing into a burning house and rescuing a neighbor woman.

More Peace and heroism!

Marilyn