Wednesday, September 06, 2006, 21:29
What ARE They Thinking?
All generations think that younger generations have strange ideas -- strange clothes -- strange music -- strange beliefs. It's a fact of life. Generations typically do not see eye-to-eye on certain issues and subjects.
I know this. I know it as well as I know my own name. I know it as well as I know my own phone number. I know it is as well as I know what month it is.
Then why, I ask you, was I surprised to find out that younger generations are now being conned into buying DIRTY CLOTHES and thinking that DIRTY CLOTHES are the best thing since sliced bread?
The other day, Randy and I went to Wal-Mart for kitty food and kitty litter. I also needed to buy pens and paper. That's one thing when you're a writer -- you go through many pens and lots of paper.
I had picked up the pens and paper I needed and then had headed down another aisle to get to the check out.
That's when I saw them.
Racks and racks and racks of DIRTY JEANS for sale.
DIRTY JEANS that are full of HOLES.
Style is one thing, of course. A certain style of clothing is usually preferred by one generation and another style of clothing is preferred by a different generation.
I really did not think that "clean" constituted a style of clothing. Or in this case, that "dirty" ought to be a style of clothing.
The jeans look like they have had dirt ground into them and then were washed (unsuccessfully, I might add) repeatedly until they faded in certain places. The jeans have also had tears and rips and cuts put into them in certain places, presumably to authenticate that "worn look."
Why -- in the name of laundry detergent -- would anyone want to spend perfectly good money to buy dirty clothes?
Have younger generations gotten so lazy that they can't get their clothes dirty all on their own? Are they so short on time and ideas that they can't figure out how to get their clothes dirty all by themselves without having to buy dirty clothes? Do they want to wear a certain look that says they are acquainted with physical labor -- without having to do any of the physical labor?
And here I thought the object of buying new clothes was to get -- NEW CLOTHES.
Then again, maybe it is mothers who are behind the movement to sell dirty clothes.
And if that's the case -- gooooooooo Moms! U-Rah! Rah! Sis-boom-bah!
I mean, can't you just imagine the conversations?
"Mom, I want to buy some dirty jeans."
"Dirty jeans? Why do you want to buy dirty jeans?"
"Because they're new."
"What?"
"The dirty jeans are new."
"The dirty jeans are new?"
"Yes, that's why I want to buy them."
"Let me get this straight. You want to buy new jeans that are already dirty?"
"That's right."
"Fine by me. Just as long as you pay for them yourself. Because I am NOT buying dirty jeans. I work hard enough to get the clothes you already own clean."
"Okay. I'll buy them myself. That's why I started a 40-hour a week job. School is just a hobby now, you know. School is not that important. It's money that's important."
"Good! You have your own money! And since you are already buying your clothes dirty, that must mean you want them to stay dirty -- SO NOW HEAR THIS -- I am NOT washing the new jeans you bought that were already dirty when you bought them. You can wear them dirty. Or you can wash them yourself."
Now that I think about it, it seems highly plausible that mothers were behind this movement to sell dirty clothes.
Talk about divergent, out-of-the-box thinking.
On the other hand, if it's just the DIRTY JEANS look that the kids want, I have lots of ways around here that they could get their jeans dirty. I've got fences that could stand some work. The barn and house need to be painted. They could work in the garden. They could mow the lawn. The could dig up my rock garden, sift out all of the weeds and grass and replant the irises. They could also take the wheelbarrow around and clean up the horse pastures. The hayfield could definitely benefit from more organic material. And when they run out of things to do around here, I'm certain some of our neighbors will have work for them to do, too.
I have a feeling, though, that the younger generation would rather just buy their jeans dirty.
Doesn't make any difference to me, because I'm going to keep right on getting my jeans dirty with honest work -- and then I'm going to work just as hard to get them clean before I wear them again. And if that means I am hopelessly old-fashioned -- then I guess I will have to be hopelessly old-fashioned. But at least I will not be spending perfectly good money to buy dirty clothes.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Tuesday, September 05, 2006, 19:17
Summer Guests
I have always admired tree frogs. I don't know why. Maybe it's because they are such an unusual green color. Or maybe it's because of their little suction cup feet.
At any rate, we have had a tree frog living in the basement window sill for the last month or two. Most nights we see him on the window ledge. But one night last week, he was on the basement wall.
Randy went inside and got the digital camera so we could get pictures of him.
For the past few years, we have not had many tree frogs by the house. I don't know -- maybe it has been too dry for the past few years for them to be out and about. We used to have tree frogs climbing all over the windows at least a couple of times during the summer. Even on the picture window on the front of the house that's 20 feet off the ground.
When tree frogs are climbing on the windows, you get a great opportunity to observe their suction cup feet.
When the tree frogs are climbing on the windows, the cats get a great opportunity to observe them, as well. They are enthralled with tree frogs and will watch them for as long as they stay on the windows. When the tree frogs climb off the windows and down onto the house siding below, my big tom cat, Duke, will put his forehead against the glass and try to see where the tree frog went.
The tree frog in the basement window has been there a long time. He must be finding plenty of insects to eat -- and that's fine with me.
Toads have been scarce this summer, too. I did not see a toad all summer long until we got a few inches of rain and the soil wasn't so dry anymore. Now the toads are coming out at night and are hanging around the back porch. On the night we got pictures of the tree frog, a large toad sat in the basement window at the back of the house. The picture doesn't necessarily do him justice because he's about as big as the palm of my hand.
In fact, there are so many toads out at night now that I have to be careful when I take Pixie outside and when I go down to the barn to get more hay for the horses. I would really rather not step on a toad, if I could help it.
The rain we've gotten has helped the toads. But it was too late for the birds. We have had a mostly "silent summer" around here. In the spring, all the usual birds showed up: robins, towhees, warblers, Baltimore orioles, whippoorwills, blue birds, kildeer, barn swallows, tree swallows, cliff swallows, hummingbirds, goldfinches, cardinals, song sparrows, tree sparrows, purple finches, brown thrashers, catbirds.
As soon as the landscape turned parched and dry, the birds left. I didn't hear a robin singing all summer long. The whippoorwills hung in there for a while. The blue birds stayed and raised their young and are here now, except we only occasionally hear a blue bird. The cliff swallows raised their young and left very early -- in July. The barn swallows left the middle of August. Usually they stay until on into September.
The hummingbirds left early, too. By the end of August, most of them were gone. Usually the hummingbirds stay on into September, as well. The cardinals are here all year long, but I haven't heard a peep out of the cardinals. Goldfinches stay all year long, too, but I only occasionally hear a goldfinch. And the purple finches are around here all year, but I haven't heard purple finches singing, either. The song sparrows and towhees stayed for a short while and left, too, as did the Baltimore orioles and the brown thrashers and the catbirds.
I guess I never realized how much I took the bird songs for granted-- how much I took it for granted that the birds would all be around all summer long -- until I didn't hear any birds singing. It has been a quiet summer -- more quiet, even, than winter. At least in the winter, the goldfinches, cardinals, blue jays, juncoes, tree sparrows and chickadees will make their presence known.
The weather forecast predicted rain Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday this Labor Day weekend -- but we did not get a single drop. It rained in the Twin Cities. But not here. And that does not bode well. It says to me that we are not out of the drought yet.
LeAnn R. Ralph
