Friday, December 22, 2006, 00:13

Slippery Slopes

It rained today. About 2 inches. Some of it freezing rain.

You might know it would be freezing rain on a day when I had to drive into town to the clerk of courts office to get a copy of a criminal complaint so I could write a story about local university football players arrested on drug charges (possession and trafficking).

Don't these kids have better things to do with their time? What about going to class? What about studying? What about making something of themselves? Besides convicted felons, that is? Of course, they are not convicted felons *yet* -- but they probably will be in the not-too-distant future.

One of them told one of the investigators that another of those arrested said he was selling drugs because he needed the money -- that he had let the other one sell drugs from his residence because the other one said he needed the money.

Needed the money?

What about a little thing called a job?

Not to mention -- what about a little thing like being signed recently by a semi-pro football team? The young man who signed with the semi-pros who said he needed the money can kiss any thoughts he had of playing semi-pro football goodbye now.

I can guess what he was thinking. He's from St. Louis. He was probably thinking that law enforcement officials in a little po-dunk town in Wisconsin would never catch*him* selling drugs. I've seen it before. Different case, of course. That one was arson. A guy who had just opened a restaurant hired someone else to torch the competition thinking that the officers in a little town in Wisconsin would *never* figure out that he had hired an arsonist.

They had it figured out in just a few hours.

In that case I kinda figured something was off about the guy because he wore white silk shirts and fox fur coats. You only had to look at him to know "he wasn't from around here." That was in southern Wisconsin. But you could still tell "he wasn't from around here."

Anyway, I had to drive into town in the freezing rain. The trees are covered with ice. The powerlines are icy. There are icicle hanging off the road signs. There are icicles hanging off the horse pasture fence. I drove 35 mph all the way to town and back. A trip that would have normally taken 45 minutes round trip took an hour and a half. Not bad, all things considered.

At about 5:30 this evening, I took Charlie for a walk up the dirt road. The dirt road is iced over. And it's only supposed to get colder. So any standing water that's around will probably be ice by morning.

If it had been snow, we might have gotten up to 2 feet of the white stuff. The landscape looks a little white. Or it did before dark. But that was only because everything was coated with ice. This was NOT what I had in mind when I was thinking about a white Christmas.

LeAnn R. Ralph

Tuesday, December 19, 2006, 21:18

Sophie's Dream Come True

As I was cleaning the bathroom Saturday night, I heard "fra-ump fra-ump fra-ump" and looked up just in time to see Snowflake tearing down the hallway -- with Sophie hot on her heels.

Ten seconds later I heard "fra-ump fra-ump fra-ump" again, and looked up in time to see Sophie tearing down the hallway with Snowflake hot on her heels.

Snowflake and Sophie continued the game of "chase me up and down the hallway" for a couple of minutes.

Then they moved the game.

The brand new game became "chase me around the living room."

The two of them hid behind furniture. Under furniture. On top of furniture.

And chased each other behind furniture. Under furniture. On top of furniture.

I'm not sure I've ever seen Sophie looking quite so happy.

It was the moment Sophie had been waiting for from the moment I brought Snowflake into the house 8 weeks ago.

Sophie, much to my surprise, has been somewhat of a mother hen about Snowflake. When Snowflake was very tiny, I always knew when she was awake in her box because Sophie would be sitting about two inches away, staring intently at the blanket covering the box. At other times, Sophie would snooze in the rocking chair a foot away from the box -- just so she could keep an eye on things.

As soon as Snowflake began to toddle around, Sophie tried to get her to play. Snowflake was too little to understand what Sophie wanted, but I noticed that Sophie was always careful to keep her claws sheathed as she batted at the kitten.

But now, of course, Snowflake understands the concept of "chase me" -- and embraces it with an enthusiasm that is typical of kittens. Much to Sophie's utter delight.

The games will only get more wild after this as Snowflakes gets bigger and is able to play with Sophie more and more. I have noticed, too, that Sophie looks happier in general and is even coming to me once in a while because she wants (gasp!) pets.

The older cats are remarkably tolerant with Snowflake, too, I have noticed. When she leaps at their heads and tries to bite their ears, they merely tilt their heads back out of the way. Except for my big tom, Duke. He gets downright grumpy when Snowflake bites his tail or his legs. But still, he only gives a warning meow and does not try to bite her or hurt her in any way.

I had to laugh Monday night when Duke was in the rocking chair, grooming. Snowflake was hiding a short distance away, watching him intently. Duke stopped grooming, as if he was aware that he was being watched, looked around, didn't see anything and went back to grooming. That was when Snowflake saw her chance. She popped out of hiding, leaped up into the chair, bit his tail and was gone again in a flash. Duke was so surprised he didn't even have time to be grumpy.

Anyway -- now that Snowflake and Sophie are chasing each other around, perhaps it would be a good idea to keep the video camera charged up. You never know when a game of "chase me" might turn into an America's Funniest Home Video.

Little Angels The Sunday school Christmas program went very well Sunday morning during church. The simple narration of the Nativity started out with Mary and Joseph coming to Bethlehem (played by the great uncle and grandmother of two of the Sunday school students). Mary and Joseph stayed in a place "where animals were kept" -- which is when I came out in my cow costume (one of those hooded towels for kids with cow ears and a nose and spots on the back) (plus the "calf" washcloth over my hand).

The cow elicited an abruptly cut-off snicker from the congregation, as if whoever snickered realized he or she was in church and that this was solemn occasion. Which it wasn't. It was meant to be funny!

Then came the shepherds (more people drafted from the congregation). And then the Angel Gabriel (the oldest Sunday school girl in 6th grade who also read some of the narration). And a bright light (which was a star from one of the wise men -- errrrr, wise women's nativity set out in her yard). When the bright light appeared, I reached over and turned on the star, which was connected to a power strip.

When the Angel Gabriel, with arms outstretched above the shepherds, was finished with her lines, then a "multitude of angels" showed up -- which is when the "little angels" came out dressed in their white gowns and star garland and ribbon halos.

The little angels (a two-year-old and 3 three-year-olds) caused a collective gasp of "look at how cute!" from the congregation. (The littlest angel got cuter yet later on when she insisted she was wanted to hold Baby Jesus -- because the Baby Jesus was, of course, HER doll after all and not Grandma's/Mary's).

After the wise men arrived and presented their gifts, the Sunday School group sang the first verse of Away in Manger -- and the congregation joined in on the second and third verse.

It all went extremely well. None of the little angels got scared and started crying! Although one little angel confessed later on to her great-aunt that "it *was* scary. . ."

Many people stayed for breakfast afterwards, and all together, it worked out quite well.

Thank goodness.

Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures. The camera was in my coat pocket downstairs, and by the time I got to it, the little angels (and everyone else) were out of their costumes and eating breakfast.

Sick Puppy -- Again Pixie was sick again Saturday night and Sunday with diarrhea. I'm wondering if it could be caused by some new biscuits I got the other day. Pixie is used to getting dog biscuits as treats, but I have not given her and Charlie these particular biscuits before. She didn't have any biscuits Friday, but Saturday she ate one whole biscuit over the course of the day (I broke it into pieces for her.) So, we shall see.

NOT Beginning to Look Like Christmas It does not look at all like Christmas around here. Not a flake of snow. And there's grass that is still green. But mostly it's the lack of snow. Looks more like early spring than it does just starting out as winter.

Sayings

"You know there's a kitten in the house when you walk in the bathroom and all of the toilet paper has been pulled off the roll and is lying in a heap on the floor."

"You know your life is too hectic when you look high and low around the kitchen for the cover to peanut butter jar -- and later on discover that it is in your office because you were eating apple slices with peanut butter when you were trying to finish up a newspaper story at 7 a.m. so you could get back to town for another meeting at 9 a.m. -- but didn't remember that you had left the cover in your office."

LeAnn R. Ralph