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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Peacock Returns!

Yesterday I put sealer on the deck. This made it necessary to take the dogs out the front door. I stepped out in the front yard who should greet me, but Mr. Peacock! I of course, went into catch the peacock mode. Then it dawned on me that the neighbor lady was home and it was, after all, her peacock. So I ran over and got her.

She is not nearly as good at catching a peacock as her husband, so the last we seen of the peacock was him headed west down South Road and going a lot faster then either one of us! My son did observe that the peacock seems to be drawn to me. What ever. Peacocks are supposed to be a sign of good luck and I am hoping that will start kicking in soon.

In the meantime, I have been keeping pretty busy. Got a quilt quilted. Made small soaps with tons of lavender to keep moths away. Will sell them at the sale in November. Picked the remaining cukes so I can make dill pickle slices. Picked 3 tomatoes on the green side so I can fry them. I also looked at the closet with a critical eye. Then I reached a monumental decision; that is way more then I can get done since it is almost nap time!

The sunrise this morning was absolutely beautiful! Usually the sun just kind of pops up and down out here, but the one this morning was kind of slow and made the whole horizon very red and it stayed that way for almost half an hour.

Something about a long sunrise makes me feel inadequate. I feel that I am of very little significance in this big old world, but I somehow feel that I am the only one watching this sunrise. So, I guess my life is basically a conundrum. Do you know what that means? It means a riddle whose answer is a pun. That pretty much sums it up.

So, you have learned a new word today and the meaning of that word. As long as you pick up a little knowledge every day you will never stop learning. Wish I had some wise words to leave you with, but I am coming up blank. Just goes to show you that nothing is ever as it seems.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Chile Festival

I am demonstating for the Weavers Guild in the El Pueblo Museum yesterday and today. This has been fun. Joanne is with me and she is a tremendous weaver and likes people. I enjoy meeting people, so I just mostly talk.
First person to strike my fancy was Rebecca. She is from back east and knows how to use a drop spindle. We got started talking because she let a nasty word slip and apologized. I told her I could out cuss her any day. She spun some yarn and then went away, but not before we exchanged emails and such. Ships in the night.
The next one was a fellow who stopped right in front of me and stood. Not knowing what to say I said "Hi!" He replied, "No, just happy!" I was taken aback by that one, but life goes on anyway.
We watched the Indian Dancers. There is some very intricate bead work on those costumes. If you ever get a chance to take a close look, by all means do so. They go to a lot of work and are proud to show it to you.
There were rides for the kids, funnel cakes, Barbeque, roasted corn, jewelry, bean toss, and just about anything you can think of, but the main attraction is the rows and rows of chile roasters lined up and roasting the product Pueblo is best know for, the Mighty Pueblo Chile!!
So I shall return to my post today and continue to observe people. Will report in tomorrow. Sure I will have a good time.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Middle of the Night

It has come to my attention that I have profound thoughts, so profound that they actually awaken me wherein, I then need to lay there and ponder them. These same earth rattling revelations unfortunately flit away with the coming of dawn and complete wakefulness.
My late husband did not dream. Swore to heaven he did not dream. One morning he crawled out of bed a little more crabby then I was used to him being. As the day wore on his snipping seemed to increase, until I in my gentle way asked, "What in the hell is your problem?"
He stated that when he awoke that morning he "had it in his head" that I had run away with another man. I explained to him that is what is called a dream, which he must indeed be having, since I had not moved from the farm, so apparently had not run away with another man.
Now this brings me to the question, am I having profound, earth shaking revelations, or am I too, dreaming?
I have tried to trick myself, by recording my thoughts when I am awakened by these revelations, but when I play them back to myself, they do not seem all that important. To be honest, some of them sounded very stupid, others like the ramblings of a mad woman. So this leads me to one of two conclusions:
I am very happy that I escape into a dream world and get my creativity and genius worked out in the middle of the night where no one can see or hear just how loony I am as opposed to wandering around town talking to myself. What do you think of that theory?
Here is another one for you to think about. I am so smart when I am asleep that even I can not recognize my brilliance in broad daylight. I may be an Einstein and no one will ever know it because I sleep alone and can't remember anything when I wake up in the morning.
"What evil lurks in the hearts of man only the shadow knows!" That quote comes from an old radio show we used to listen to years ago. I am not sure it is correct, but then it did come from my mind and lord only knows what goes on in there!
A friend once told me " You never really know anyone, you know of them. " Meditate on that for the day.

Friday, September 25, 2009

My Mother

My mother shaped my life by example and a lot of her down home wisdom. I am going to tell you some of these at this point and what my thoughts at the time were.

1. "Get that pencil out of your mouth. You don't know where it has been." (Where did that thing go when I wasn't looking?")

2. " Do you want a lickin'?" (Oh, yeah! That is exactly what I want, a lickin'!)

3. " If Beth stuck her head in the fire, I suppose you would too!" (How is wearing my socks rolled down comparable to sticking my head in a fire?)

4. "Eat that mush! There are people starving to death in China." (Well, I sure wish they had this mush!"

5. "Get that coat on before you go outside and freeze to death!" (Wonder how long it takes to flash freeze.)

6. " Do not stick your tongue on that metal pole, cause it will freeze there." (Of course I am going to do that if I can just make it to the pole before I freeze to death.)

7. "Break this candy bar in half and give your sister the biggest half so you do not appear greedy." (Yeah, give the big half to her because she is greedy.)

8. "The early bird gets the worm." (And why do I want a worm?)

9. " Stop running around like a chicken with its head cut off!" (There is a visual I do not need.)

10. "Keep your legs crossed or some little boy will look up your dress." (And what will he see?)

11. "I am going to knock your block off!" (What is a block? Is that possible? Where will my block land and can I put it back on?)

12. "Keep eating and you are going to pop open!" (So that is what that belly button is for! To hold me shut.)



And there is not a day that goes by that one of her idioms doesn't pop into my mind and jerk me back to the straight and narrow. Today this would be called child abuse, but back in those days it was just called "doing the best we can."

I would not trade my roots for any other roots in the world. I came from good, hardworking, honest German and I am sure this has helped shape me into the person I am today.



Thursday, September 24, 2009

Like a Bad Penny!

Bet you thought I was still out in the world wrestling Peacocks! No, here I am. Just like a bad penny, I have returned.
Yesterday was a lost day. Weaver's Guild until noon, lunch with the boy, hurry home for the nap, and then get ready for bed. Today I am going to tell you how to clean silver .
Get a big pot, preferably aluminum. Put a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom of the pot. Set the tea pot or whatever in the pot, making sure it has contact with the foil. Cover with water being sure to measure and make sure the item is covered. Now, add 2 tablespoons of baking soda for each quart of water. Bring temperature to 150 degrees and hold it there for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to cool. Rinse and buff.
Unless of course you would rather go buy some silver cleaner and rub it on, and rub it on, and rub it on. You get the picture! See I went to the garage sale and bought 2 boxes of silver stuff for $45.00. I could see a lot of polishing going on getting this in shape for Ebay. Not me, man, I am basically pretty lazy and if there is a way around the old way, I am all over that!
My mother had all kinds of little sayings to live by and I think the one that comes to mind here would be, " A stitch in time, saves nine ." And by that she would have said, "If you had kept that done up in the first place, you would not be up all night doing it now!"
Tomorrow I will tell you a bit about my mother, God love her. She was a very unique being and not a day goes by that one of her words of wisdom doesn't pop up and hit me, usually right between the eyes!!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Peacock Wrangling

Those of you who know me personally, know my life is never dull. This morning started out looking pretty mundane, little cool with that touch of fall in the air. I had an errand in town, so that was where I was headed. About a quarter of a mile from the house I happened to glance over and there was a peacock in the field looking pretty out of place. I recalled that the neighbors were missing a peacock, so being the dutiful person that I am, I made a "u" turn and told Clifford where the peacock was. Then I started back down the road. Silly me!
Here came Mr. Peacock walking east on South Road! I immediately parked the car and decided to follow along and keep my eye on him until Clifford could get there. I called my son and told him to go out in the yard and tell Clifford to hurry. Well, the Big Blue Peacock then took a right turn on 27th Lane. I knew if he got to the river he was gone. I took a short cut across the alfalfa field to cut him off at the pass. Have you ever tried to run across an alfalfa field? They irrigate those things which means they are full of ditches that you can not see. You can trip on them, but you can not see them coming!
Fortunately I beat the peacock and got him headed back east, unfortunately, it was now across fields, ditches full of water, piles of trash and fences here and there. So I called my son and told him to get out back as fast as he could cause I almost had him! I never remembered at any point in time that I had not told Bret what I was doing; just barked orders at him.
Bless his heart, here he came on a dead run to help his frantic mother in the middle of a field of weeds with one foot in an irrigation ditch full of water. He was very relieved to see me pointing at the peacock who was by now entangled in the fence. And to make the picture perfect, Clifford arrived with his net.
With the peacock gone and Bret looked at me and said "Do you realize I thought you had gone completely crazy? Next time you might want to explain what is going on out here!"
The neighbor lady was very grateful. Even said she had prayed the night before for the peacock to come home.
Now what is the wisdom in this posting? I am sure there is one here somewhere and as I set her with an ankle throbbing, looking back on the day, I think I know what it is!

I am a vessel of God, used for returning Peacocks and such to their rightful home!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Geese moving EAST!

Well, it is getting close to frost here in Southern Colorado. When I went out to let my water fowl out this morning I saw a flock of ducks and a flock of geese. Both were flying east. It has come to my attention that either the water fowl in this area are totally confused or it is the Green House Effect taking over. Myself, I just think winters are so mild here in the Pueblo area that geese and ducks don't even know they happen.
Or another possibility is that the geese that flew east this morning are not the same geese that will fly west tonight! Perhaps it is the changing of the guard so to speak, and the summer geese/ducks are being replaced by the winter geese ducks!
Which brings me to a strange happening in my pen. I go out every evening and put my 23 ducks and 10 geese in a secure house to sleep. I just step out the back door with my flash light and they go right in.
One night one of the ducks seemed a little hesitant, but I shooed her in. The next morning this same duck would not come out. I opened the front of the house and she sashayed her little self out and waddled about 25 feet and then took flight and that was the last I saw of that little Mallard! Turns out she was a wild one that popped in to spend the night as mine are all domestic and can not fly.
Which brings me to my lesson for today. You can exert brute force and have your way for a little while, but in the end you are but a mere mortal wanting something and in the morning it will just fly away leaving you standing there gazing heavenward wondering what just transpired.

If you love something, set it free. If it returns it was truly meant to be.

Another year down the tubes!

Counting today, there are only 5 days left in this year.    Momma nailed it when she said "When you are over the hill you pick up speed...