Monday, March 27, 2006, 08:09
One Thing. . .And Another
As my mother would have said -- I feel like I have been dragged through a knothole backward.
Friday evening, I baked 12 dozen cookies as a give-away for the craft sale on Sunday. Well, not just for the craft sale on Sunday because I've got another craft sale on Saturday, April 1, and another the following Saturday on April 8.
Saturday morning, we received a telephone call that another of Randy's uncles had passed away. Uncle Ray had a malignant brain tumor. He was diagnosed with it two weeks ago. Seems unbelievable doesn't it. Two weeks.
Anyway, the visitation is scheduled for Monday afternoon and the funeral is Tuesday. We spent part of Saturday making arrangements so we could go to the visitation and to the funeral. (For one thing, I had to find out if my brother or sister-in-law could feed the horses.) I spent the other part of Saturday getting ready for the Farm Toy Show on Sunday.
I left for the Farm Toy Show in Thorp Sunday morning at 7:30. The show ran from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., but I left at 1 p.m. because our church choir was singing at 2 p.m. 70 miles away. The church choirs in this area get together once a year for what they call "The Sing Thing."
The FFA Alumni Farm Toy Show went well. It is a much smaller show than the one in my hometown, but it was still fairly well attended. And the people there were SO nice. Usually they don't like to have you leave shows like that early, but I called and told them about the church choir. They gave me a space in one of the halls near a doorway so I could just park outside the doorway, load my things at 1 p.m. and leave -- without having to carry everything through crowds of people.
I sold 7 books at the show, talked to lots and lots of people and even gave away a few cookies!
It was "nip and tuck" getting to The Sing Thing, though. I left at 1 p.m. and got there at 2:10 p.m. The Sing Thing started at 2 p.m. I was very much hoping our choir wasn't first, and it wasn't. We were third in line to sing. Randy rode with someone else to the church (and planned to ride home with me) and wasn't worried at all about me getting there on time -- until he talked to a truck driver friend of ours who said, "boy, that's a close one; I don't think she'll make it." (Hah! I did. So there!)
I learned something new on Sunday, too -- that other prior stress is good for relieving the nerves. Usually I get very nervous singing at those Sing Things because there are so many people in the audience. But, between the news about Uncle Ray, getting ready for the craft show, driving 70 miles, sitting through the craft show, talking to lots of people, and driving 70 miles back again, I discovered that singing in front of a crowd barely registered. My only thought was, "Good. In a few minutes we'll be done. And THEN I can relax."
We will be leaving early afternoon on Monday for the funeral, so I will be offline for a few days.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Friday, March 24, 2006, 19:14
HOW Many?
There I was Thursday night, out in the kitchen, getting a glass of water. Randy had already gone to bed, so it was quiet in the house. I did not have the kitchen light on, but I could see out in the yard because of the dusk-to-dawn light on the other side of the house.
So -- what was that shadow on the ground by the bird feeder? Could it be?
Yes! It was a raccoon!
An ENORMOUS raccoon.
A HUGE raccoon.
A GIGANTIC raccoon.
But wait.
It was not one raccoon -- it was two.
No. It wasn't.
There were three!
Three enormously huge raccoons. They must have had a good winter, to be that large. . .
Uh-oh.
What was that up IN the bird feeder?
It could not be. . .
But it was. A fourth raccoon. Just as big and fat and huge and enormous as the other three.
I crept to the door and told Pixie to stay, because she had figured out something was going on and wanted to come with me. Then I yanked open the door and pushed open the storm door.
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGH!" I growled as I raced out the door.
The three raccoons on the ground zipped across the yard without stopping to look and see what was coming after them.
The fourth raccoon took a flying leap out of the bird feeder and was hard on the heels of his companions.
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGH!" I growled.
Scrabble-scrabble-scrabble went claws on bark as the raccoons took refuge in the pine tree at the edge of the yard that my dad planted nearly 30 years ago.
I dashed back to the house, put on my coat and called Pixie.
As soon as Pixie cleared the door she was barking and growling and running across the yard.
Scrabble-scrabble-scrabble went claws on bark as the raccoons climbed higher in the pine tree.
Pixie ran around and barked and growled. She ran down into the windbreak of pines at the edge of the yard and back up again. And somehow, as she ran around and barked and growled, she managed to chase at least one of the raccoons across the road into the "big pines" (the same spot that is part of the story "Wintergreen" in *Christmas in Dairyland*).
As I stood there in the yard, I could hear claws on bark across the road as the raccoon climbed higher in the tree.
"I hear you!" I called. "I know where you are!"
Scrabble-scrabble-scrabble went claws on bark.
Pixie growled and barked some more. And even the neighbor's hunting dogs across the road joined in. I usually object to listening to the neighbor's dogs barking at all hours of the day and night, which they do regularly, maybe a dozen times a week, sometimes more, because they are cooped up in kennels and are never let out to run around.
But in this case, I decided that the more dogs that were barking, the better.
I figured as soon as it was quiet again, the raccoons would come back. What could I put in the bird feeder, or near it, that would frighten them off?
Would the human scent on a coat or a jacket be enough to persuade them to leave the bird feeder alone? I had just filled the platform bird feeders with seed that morning, and I would rather the raccoons did not eat all of the birdseed I had put out.
I went into the house, got Randy's chore jacket and hung it from the trellis by the birdfeeder. Randy's jacket was the logical choice, it seemed to me, seeing as he wouldn't need it until Friday night after he got home from work. I still had to let Charlie out and give the horses more hay, so I would need my jacket.
A little while later, I let Charlie out, and he, too, was aware that the raccoons were around. He ran up to the back yard and trotted back and forth, following his nose, whuffling and snuffling and snorting to let the intruders know that he could smell them.
It was bad enough that we had one raccoon raiding the birdfeeders last year.
Now there are four.
I suppose we'll have to bait the live trap with birdseed and peanut butter and set it out in the yard. If we can trap the little -- errr -- the big rascals, Randy can take them to the lake and let them go.
I might have known. The raccoon who has been eating the cat food in the barn must have invited three of his closest friends (or relatives) to come for a snack.
Oh, yes, spring has most definitely arrived. The raccoons are on the move and looking for food.
Bluebirds -- The bluebirds came back the Saturday before the big snowstorm on March 13. For nearly two weeks, after it snowed and turned cold again, I hadn't heard a thing from the bluebirds. But on Thursday and now again on Friday I am hearing them twittering happily.
LeAnn R. Ralph