Reflecting by the fire 17 Sept 2006

17 Sept 06

The sun was shining finally after a few days of clouds and rain so I went over to the pond with Ben (Newfoundland dog), picked up the blown over lawn chair and sat down to rest and ponder the season that is approaching fast. Ben was determined that I was to give him my full attention – he kept nuzzling his gigantic head into my face and body so I scratched his ears and his ever wet chin and chest which only encouraged him for more of my attention.. Then something out the TV show, Star Trek. I am sure I was witnessing the evolution process again. I haven’t had my eyes checked in a long time and I did not have my glasses on but I am sure I saw a fish or two walk on the water. I tell no lie. It had a tail fin and the two points acted as legs and it hop, skipped flickered out on the water up right appearing that it was walking. It must have be chased by one of those monster fishes that I have been feeding all spring to be such frantically try to walk on the surface of its world – or because of the sun‘s warmth it really did want to live in the world up above. I watched one - no two - at least two were doing this maneuver right before my eyes..

That was the beginning of my day jumping forward into the late evening.

Donna and I were watching TV together and she said Dad – don’t you hear this – no I haven’t heard anything. She says that a mouse or something is in the front porch – yes now I hear it so I go over to the door open it up . There is no light – it is pitch dark and yes I hear something. My first thought was that this is too loud of a noise to be a tiny mouse so I think it is a raccoon or a skunk. I have forgotten to closed the out side porch door and we have a large smelly bag of garbage sitting in the front of it inviting all wild creates large and small to come and have a snack. Then out of the darkness comes this huge critter, still not quite grasping what it is for a second or two I just stand there with the door open into the house when Ben rambles pass me with his chain fasten tightly around his neck and a mouth full of toast that he has taken from the duck pond sticking out from between his lips. Donna is saying something to me I am just looking – staring at my sheepish dog coming into the house soaking wet dragging a unbreakable chain with his mouth full. Only on TV would something this comical occur – but here it is right before my eyes in reality of life After the movie was over I put on a sweater and grabbed a flash light some dog food and my out door slippers and Ben and I went back to the yard and I found the remaining part of his chain and reconnected his collar and other end to a new tie down about 15 feet shorter then before. I gave him his supper and off to bed I go, I figure this might hold him for a day or so until I figure how else I can contain his love for duck bread and my garbage in the porch.. One of the things I have been thinking about lately because I have no out door lighting in the front of the house and I have these bee hives in the back of the house is – I can see my self going out side and going up to Ben to pet him – or to scold him for being some place that he is not to be and finding out that my Ben is not Ben but a wild and huge black bear who has decided that my hives are for his enjoyment. With my eyes crating these strange illusions and with the darkness of night Ben could be a Bear – Ben could pass for a Bear any time of the day - so why not more so in the darkness of a moonless foggy evening???

time for a laugh

PECANS IN THE CEMETERY
On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts.
'One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me,' said one boy. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.
Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, 'One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me'
He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along.
'Come here quick,' said the boy, 'you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls.'
The man said, 'Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk.' When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery.
Standing by the fence they heard, 'One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me.'
The old man whispered, 'Boy, you've been telling' me the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord.'
Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord.
At last they heard, 'One for you, one for me. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done.'
They say the old man made it back to town a full 5 minutes ahead of the kid on the bike.

Bali 2009

I am so sun burnt. Noni and I booked a
  FULL DAY JEEP SAFARI

From the the sea to the mountain , a day out with Bali Tropical Safaris is an adventure back in time. By our Legendary Luxurious 4 Wheel drive Jeep we will bring you to explore the heart and soul of Bali,  through magnificent views of terraced rice fields, visit and feel the original daily Balinese lifestyle, rest in our traditional Gazebo by the beach, and exploring the excitement of the off-beaten-road in the middle of cacao plantation.

. We were driven around in a 4x4 Jeep which I stood up in most of time taking pictures through the opening in the roof - thus my sun burn - Noni sat inside of the jeep, with an occasional top view. Noni and I chose horse back riding along the beach.

 I had difficulty getting off the horse, but getting on was not a problem because we were at the stables and they provided a mounting bench. But when we came to the end of this trail we were at a different location and no stools or benches were provided. It was awkward – both men had to help me dismount. My left leg still is a hindrance in so many ways not doing what I want it to do. I am so pleased about this experience, this has to be one of my life long dreams to do, but I do feel a little sorry for the horse – I am not a light man!

One of our  stops was at a ceramic (pottery) factory, and then later we ate a traditional Bali lunch on some point of land with the ocean breeze blowing to keep us cool - I do not know what it was that I ate , but it was tasty.

I really like the tour - Noni was not so impressed with it - (so later that night at the hotel I paid for her to have a spa treatment - very expensive ((later when we went for a little walk - we saw just out side of our hotel a few yards away another spa one third the price, let that be a lesson to me - do not use hotel specials they are not the best prices.)) So I went swimming in the pool at the hotel as Noni had her spa. The employees in the spa tried very hard to get me to join her - no way..... I will go and enjoy the pool I kept telling them. I refused to buy a soft drink from the pool side bar because a coke was three dollars Canadian - I would not pay that price here or anywhere for that matter, but I did order a fresh coconut at the pool side to drink and eat. That is exotic for a Canadian – and worth the money.

Our hotel was good. Price was not too expensive. I did go swim in the swimming pool three times during our stay in Bali enjoying the salted water and open air. We ate our breakfasts at the hotel – a large buffet that was included with the price of the hotel. Noni and I went to the nearby KFC at lunch to eat because I had a craving for fried chicken. We went into a shopping mall a couple of times to browse, and on our last day we went walking for about six hours to look at the many shops along the side of the road. 

Noni is very tired. She is not a custom to so much walking. I found it annoying some what - everyone is pressuring you to buy some thing. You can not walk far with out a lady or a man telling you that they will sell you this or that cheap - best deal. I have learned to say NO in Indonesian and just to keep walking... 

http://www.bali-hotels-budget.com/images/logo.gif

 

a Reflection- 22 Jan 2007a View from the Kitchen Window

The View from the Kitchen Window

Jan 22 07

Today I have a different view – not from the kitchen window.   Donna and the children went for a walk in the snow with the dogs Ben and Dalhousie. All is quite in the house until they arrive back – don’t figure eh! Anyways Donna comes into the kitchen excited and panicky rambling about the dogs being bloody and under attack from a beaver. She is almost in tears saying that Dalhousie ’s nose is bitten off and Ben is covered in blood. At first I do not know what to think, then in comes Dalhousie. His muzzle is covered in blood, and he is soaking wet looking as if he has just come out of a swimming pool; he sure looks like one sorry soggy dog. I gently run my hands over his body and examine as closely as I can his nose. All seems OK so no vet call is needed at this time. Ben comes in later – I do not worry too much about him he is so huge and powerful. We had these dog biscuits for large dogs that Ben chops up as if it is a knife going through hot butter on a July day. How many pounds per square inch do his choppers put per inch? All that I know is that when I give Dalhousie a large dog biscuit I have to break it up for him or it takes forever to chew it – in the mean while Ben just open and closes his mouth and crumbs fall all over the floor.

Well all is safe now both dogs are in the house recuperating from their great kill; I can just imagine the dreams they will have tonight. I often watch them sleep and their legs would be twitching and little growls coming from within. Not sure when Kyla had let the dogs outside, but Dalhousie was scratching at the door to come back in side. I let him in and he runs around a bit when I notice that once again his muzzle is ringed by blood. I am sure he does have a bite on his black little button nose but this is too much blood I am thinking. Donna calls out where is Ben and she goes out side to search and comes back right away screaming. Ben has this thing in his mouth. I give her my camera and request firmly that she goes out to take a picture so I can see it. She takes a couple pictures but they are of poor quality so I send her out once more. She got as far as the door and turns around screaming again at Ben to stay out. I wheel over and stand at the door to view out the window. I see Ben but nothing else. So I open the door and at my feet lay’s a brown thing. I can not tell at this point what it is so I bend over and turn it over. Well there is no guessing now what it is. Ben has killed a muskrat.

What can I say? As I type this the muskrat remains at my door step as Donna will not go near the thing and I can not do anything with it except to bring it into the house which will only make Donna freak out more, so it remains in my front porch step. I have offered to bring it into the house and throw it into the wood stove like I do to the mice I catch in the traps but one again Donna is not so keen of this suggestion. What would you do if you were in my position? I think if we leave it there long enough Ben will drag it outside and munch on it or something of that nature. After all isn’t this what dogs do? 
I would love to see the reaction of my next visitor who comes in my front door if Ben does not drag this off!!!!

A reflection from 2007 A View from the Kitchen Window

The view from the kitchen window

10 Jan 07

Looking through the kitchen window at another fresh snowfall, I watch the red chickens. I have not really notice before but those legs – those chicken drumsticks, they are huge. I love the dark meat of the leg from a turkey best, and those legs are so huge maybe they are part turkey. Wishful thinking, it just shows what exercises does to a critter. I don’t need to pump them full of growth hormones or force feed – just open the coop's door and let them roam free. Such freedom can be dangerous for my city dweller visitor though, who came today - I watch him go to the coop to close the outer door for the night. He stops to face Mr. Rooster who is standing his ground in front of the door, then it takes a step into the coop and visitor takes a step forward, Mr. Rooster turns and steps back and visitor withdraws – who is the chicken here? Madonna’s song “Time goes ever so slowly” poor visitor he wants to flee but he can not be outwitted by a rooster – I do not know – if a little rooster can cause such fear what will happen when he has to face life’s bigger roosters? However in this moment it brings entertainment to me as I sit in a wheel chair and look out  from the view of the kitchen window.
Sitting in front of the kitchen window not paying any attention to the view as I am engrossed in this book lent to me pondering this statement “A sensitive girl would quickly see through …….

Yet you never could tell what a woman would think or do: they were as sharp as fine steel in some things and dull as a blunted tools in their judgment of men”

Relationships – the beginnings – and endings are so difficult girl likes boy – boy does not click in or vise versa Mr. Rooster might have it right – see chick goes gets her!!!!

I am sure leaving my self open here for some criticism………… but in reality of life look around and see all these torn relationships and unhappy people because they have chosen wrong -- my ducks and pigeons all seem happy, and Mr. Rooster certainly is being very cocky out their in the yard – just ask my visitor.

The flock rushes out over the edge all in one mass movement and they are out of sight, gone from the view of the kitchen window. My mind turns back to ages long ago when the North American Indians would do their buffalo hunts. Herding and pursuing these great beasts off the cliffs of the parries, so that they could survive as a people. If one could time travel and go back – the adventures and joys of those days long gone. But time does not go back and as I look out the kitchen window I see my flock of” buffalo wings” come flapping up over the embankment. Not sure why they all fled over to begin with but I have a clear view now from the kitchen window of why they are rushing back. Right on their tail with wings out full and necks straight comes my two huge ducks pursing the hens with all their body puffed to the fullest. Even my little bantam Mr. Rooster is not putting up a fight for his chicks against Mr. and Mrs. Duck. I wonder what that squabble was about. Normally they mingle nicely.

A Reflection from Dec 2006 A View from the Kitchen Window

The View from the Kitchen Window

28 December 06

Chickens and Blue Jays:

High up in the trees five blue jays wait patiently for the chickens to wander off from the seed mixture that was tossed on the ground. One by one the chickens leave to scratch some place else in the yard and the blue jays descend on the food. Mr. Rooster does not like this intrusion at all. He rushes across the yard as fast as his two legs can carry him to chase them away from his precious territory. The Jays take flight and pronounce their unhappiness in a loud vocal chorus of screeches piercing my ears even into the house. Mr. Rooster struts around head held up high as king of the yard crowing ever so loud as to let his girls know that he is master and protector of his ladies. He slowly wanders off to scratch in other spots and the jays see this as an opportunity too fly back down to get more free delicious treats left behind from what they must think are dumb birds that can not fly and that over look precious pieces of corn and assorted seeds. Well Mr. Rooster turns around and there he goes again with his head just a bobbing, wings flapping as he races to defend that special spot.

Chickens taking flight:

How many feet from the road garden to the pigeon loft? I do not know, maybe forty or so. Why do you ask? The ground is covered in the first major snow storm of the season. I would say the ground is covered about four or five inches of this white cold stuff that my red chickens have never seen before. Their coop pen door has been opened and they have free range of the yard to go explore and scratch at the frozen ground. One by one they leave the coop picking up their legs and setting them down ever so careful. They seem puzzled if one can read a chicken. Well at least the sun is shining and the temperature is holding near zero. Eventually the yard gets explored and the chickens are scattered through out.

As I am looking out the kitchen window I see this one particular red chicken flapping her wings and beginning to run just like an airplane building up speed on a runway and by George she takes flight. She flies from the garden avoiding the snow covered ground all the way to the front of the pigeon loft. I guess she has decided that the snow is to cold on her chicken legs.

Car Chairs and Sunny Porches:

All creatures great and small may not be stirring on Christmas eve but during the windy days of December one of the red chickens is making life easier for her self and the cook. What a raucous, what is that noise in the front porch? I leave the view of the window to open the front door expecting a giant mouse or may be a cat to greet me at the door. But no, instead I have this red headed chicken making her self at home on top of a car seat soaking in the sun chuckling away as proud as can be. This is the life! There is no wind and the window pane magnifies the warmth of the sun and the car seats are soft. No eggs ever had it so good. I think to my self I ought to just put the frying pan there – one less step to do. Donna won’t have to trudge way out to the coop, walk in the dirty droppings and even more importantly the eggs are clean. If this was a one time happening I would not think much more of it. However Red now seems to have made this her special place and we often here her out there and yes Donna collects eggs off of the car seats.I wish I had a view of her slinking her way over here away from her chicken mates climbing the stairs to make her way into the junk crowded porch. I understand in the wild only the strong survive. I think my life may be in danger of the killer chicken. The view from the window – a different window but still a kitchen window – has Red perched on the window sill looking at me right in the eye. If I didn’t know better I would be thinking that she knows I am crippled and she wants to live inside where there is heat and comfort and that she was coming to get me. I hope she can put together with her chicken brain that it is Donna who takes her eggs not me and thus my life may be spared, I might have to go live in the coop with the other out casts though.

Wire verses Freedom:

The yard is bright as the morning sun rises higher and higher, soon spring will be sprung and life will commence again with full vigor. I know I am dreaming as it is only late December - winter has just officially begun a few days ago. The chicken and the pigeons I think are just as confused as my dreams are. As I look out the kitchen window I see the male pigeon do his strutting and mating herding to his chosen pigeon behind the wire. No place to hide – no place to go but back inside the loft as their freedom is doomed to the closed doors of the old tent trailer. A life spent behind wire for a crime they did not commit. But to live one must have hope and yes the offspring of the twelve – even though they do not know it - freedom is close at hand. One does not know what the day will bring forth; all these plans and ideas I had were zapped in the instant of an air bag going off. The freedom to soar ever so high - to feel the wind in your feathers – to land and peck at the ground is an experience my young pigeons have not had the joy to par take of. They watch with envy the chickens wandering around pecking and strutting about the yard. They watch the blue jays and other birds fly up into the sky soar over the pond- Freedom. Freedom will come to the youth- in time there will be a new loft built to separate the twelve from the rest and then they will have an open door to life and death. Death is always the opposite of life and there is a cost to Freedom. When that day comes and the young pigeons take flight they must face hawks, owls, foxes and every other predator that lurks in the brush or in the clouds, not to mention hydro wires, but they will be free.

Dog House Dark and Cozy:

There it sits waiting to be a home once again, looking abandoned and forsaken by the puppy Ben who now has decided like the chicken that the bigger house is more inviting comfortable to live in. Shingle-less and with out paint it sits there soaking up moisture, longing to be useful and appreciated once again. As I look out the kitchen window to my surprise one little chicken my white Bantam hen scoots inside to be followed by a red and then a black chicken. Three Chickens all in the dog house – what are they doing in there I am thinking as the minutes tick by on the kitchen clock and eventfully they do come out. I tell Donna of this and ask her to poke her head inside to see if this has become a nesting spot. I think that if I was a hen this would be a perfect spot to lay my egg. Her response is to inform me that there is no way she is going to put her head inside of the dog house. So as I look out the kitchen window I am grateful that I am not in the dog house because who would check up on me?

Noni is arriving

Preparation for my Love home coming.
Feels like my army days when I had to prepare for an inspection coming up, polishing, tucking the bed corners just right, getting the laundry folded and placed in the proper location,(not the floor or corner of the bed), toilets, sinks shined and no NO dust bunnies anywhere to be found --- hmm I hope I did not miss anything..
So I have finished - bed made - vacuumed all carpet areas - dishes all done and put away, swifter dusted all wooded surfaces, bed frame, mirrors, shelves, pictures, chair legs, - toilets cleaned , sinks wiped - garbage out - kitchen floor swept - kitchen table cleaned - my desk area tidy- kitchen floor and bathroom floors mopped. 
Showered - the Vibe has a full tank of fuel - off I go to bring my love home from the Vancouver International airport.