The Skunk

There's a skunk under my house. Yes, you read right, a real skunk.
Last evening as I was getting ready for bed I got a call from Loyd, one of the elders in our church, who was the last to leave the building after our evening VBS.
"Hey, I was driving by your house and guess what? I just saw the prettiest little black and white kitty come from your flower bed and head toward the creek."
It took me a minute to ponder why he would call me over a kitty. I'm allergic to cats, but one in the yard is no problem. Then it soaked in.
"Ok, I'll stay in."
"No. I think he has a nest under your house. Are you sure there's not a hole somewhere there?"
"Well, I don't think so. All the vents are sealed off."
"You'd better check. Skunks can get in through very small holes. Right now he's gone, so it'd be a great time to seal any holes you see."
So I dressed and went outside. Sure enough, there was a little hole at the bottom of the vent to the crawl space where a brick was missing. I found a brick that was more or less the right size, then piled more bricks over and around it for good measure, went back into the house and went to bed. This morning just before six, I checked the vent before I took off for my morning walk. The bricks had been moved; the little skunk hole was open again, so I know he's under there.
I don't think I'll vacuum the bedroom today; don't want to startle anything.
After he leaves on his nocturnal prowl tonight, I'll pile a mountain of bricks or cement the space.

Odd Things #13

My sister sent me this picture of something odd. It's actually a mural, but why would you want it there? Maybe the owner also owns a book store, or maybe it's the parallel to those antique photos with stern-faced ancestors proudly holding possessions, the most popular of which are books. At any rate, I'd rather advertise my love for books I've read than for a sports team I've never played for.

Odd Things 12 Smoke Tree

This is my neighbor's tree, so he told me the correct name. I was calling it pink fuzzy stuff...but it does rather resemble smoke.

Odd Things #11 Secret Message

I've solved it: It says "Curtains for OU".
So I'm guessing they are really OSU fans.
...as the saying goes "with fans like these...who needs bad press?"

Odd Things # 10 Oddly Beautiful

So how did they get it to produce all those shades of color?

Canning Apricots

When I found myself with two sinks full of very tasty apricots, I decided to make some jelly...or preserves or jam or conserves--something like that. First, I cleaned, cut and pitted. Then I tried to find a good recipe. Since my cookbooks all had widely varying ideas, I consulted the ultimate authority: the internet. There I found more recipes--no two the same. Some said to mash them and boil for a minute, others to dice them and boil them for twenty five. Some measured the apricots by cups, others by pounds. All required a lot of sugar, but even there the recipes didn't agree on the amount. It seemed odd to me that warnings on every recipe advised following it exactly or....YOUR JARS WON'T SEAL.
Well, I had no way of measuring the already boiling apricots, so I just guessed at all of it, adding stuff here and there. While I was careful to properly clean the jars and handle the lids, I wasn't particularly careful about all the other instructions.
Guess what? They all sealed anyway, and I now have 13 pints of wonderful apricot jam, and two quarts of apricot syrup for waffles. It all tasted wonderful...SO I'm writing my own recipe, of course, to add to the mish-mash on the internet.

Step One--Pick good apricots. If they taste bitter when you eat them fresh, they will make nasty tasting jelly.

Step Two--Clean the apricots in cool water to wash off ants and such. Cut off really bad spots and take the seeds out.

Step Three--Heap a large pan full of apricots and set it on the stove. (One site said don't use an aluminum pan because the acid would react and make the jelly taste metallic. I'm not sure it that's true, but I used a steel pan, just in case.) Add a half cup of water or less if you want to, put the lid on and cook it on low until it boils. Stir it a lot. Mash the apricots with a masher if you feel like it. It'll give you something to do.

Step Four--When the apricots boil, add about four pounds of sugar. Stir until you see that they are thickening somewhat. Let them keep boiling with the lid off so you can watch.

Step Five--add some lemon juice, or condensed orange juice from a frozen concentrate, or both if you want to, or neither. It doesn't matter really.

Step Six--add some vanilla or almond extract, or a little cinnamon, or all of these or none.

Step Seven--Skim off some of liquid on top, particularly if you seem to have a lot. Save this for waffle syrup. It's really good and if you have enough, can a jar of it too.

Step Eight--Add one or two boxes or bags of pectin (Sure-jell or another brand). (If it's the powdered kind, dissolve it first in a little water or juice from the fruit) (Or just pour it into the pot and stir until it's all melted--whatever.)

Step Nine--Stir, Stir, Stir until it reaches a jam-like consistency. Don't let it scorch!

Step Ten--Pour it into the sterilized (or just washed in the dishwasher) jars, being careful to fill them almost full--leave about 1/4 inch only--put the lids on, tighten the rings.

Step Eleven--Turn all the jars upside down for five minutes. (One of the recipes warned me that there would be dire consequences if I skipped this so I dutifully turned all mine over and, sure enough, they all sealed--but so did the syrup, and I hadn't turned it over.)

Step Twelve--Turn all the jars upright, listen for a faint pop, watch the jar lids to make sure the convex bubble in the lid turns concave, tighten the rings again. Label the fruit. Take a picture. Go write a blog entry.

Mim's Tower Sculpture

She made this all by herself using "found" materials. No, of course she is not weird. she is just my grandchild. We love art in this family. Besides, it has a lovely sense of balance.

Odd things # 9 High Voltage Detention Camp

"Round them up. Gotta keep those transformers in place. Extra-terrestrials, I suspect. Make them form lines. Don't get close to the antennae!"

Giant Lightning Rods

For several years during high school and college, Elijah worked at the local Farmers' Cooperative, more commonly referred to as the Co-op. Some of the time he was in and on top of the grain elevators, which were accessed with ladders and dangerous, grated "man-lift" elevators; in and out of boot pits, which had to been cleaned of all last year's rotting wheat before the new wheat could take its place; and in and out of storage bins, where the temperatures could reach 130 degrees, and frequently did. After harvest began every year, however, his job was to stand on top of these freight cars and direct the grain-filled, slanting spout to a trap door in their roofs. Cloudless days were trying, because of the unrelenting heat. Cloudy days were better, unless, of course a storm was brewing in the West. On one particular day, I watched the clouds roll in and listened to the storm warnings with trepidation. Knowing that the Co-op guys would work every minute until the storm actually hit--because grain is precious and the farmers were almost frantic about getting it into a dry place before the rain--I did what any self-respecting mom would do and called my son at work to make sure his supervisor would properly value his life. He was standing on top of the car, as usual.
"Don't worry, Mom", he said, "We see the storm coming. I'm sure we'll close down when it gets close."
Of course I didn't stop worrying. In fact, I worried more. Short of driving up there and demanding that they call off work, what could I do? Pray, of course. Doesn't every mom?
About thirty minutes later, the rain began to pour.
He called from the office.
"Hey, Mom, I almost got struck by lightning!"
"Are you ok?"
"Now I am, but it was pretty impressive. First this huge cloud came streaking in just like a bird flying over us. All of a sudden my head felt funny. I reached my hand over my head and felt that all my hair was standing straight up. So I turned loose of the spout and dropped flat to the roof of the car. Then I crawled to the edge and jumped off. It hit right behind me and the thunder was really loud."
"But you're ok now? You went inside, right?"
"Well, I crawled back up, raised the sheath on the spout, pushed it off and lowered the rope so they could put it back where it goes."
"You what?"
"Well, I couldn't leave it in the train like that. By that time it was pouring rain."
"No kidding."
"Aw. Don't worry, Mom. I'm fine now."
"You're not going back up there in this?"
"No. We're just finishing up some things and I'll be home."
And he was.
And he doesn't understand why I worry so much.
It's a mom thing.

Oddity #8-Melting Staircase

Someone left the water running and now the staircase is melting!

Oddity #7 A Tragic Day at the Track

It was the big race. Everyone came from miles around and camped beside the track. Bike and scooter companies provided water to the competitors and boosted morale to a fever pitch. Loud music couldn't drown the cheering of the crowd. Suddenly tragedy struck: A bike and scooter collided. The dreadful impact caused them to fly into the stands and hit a fan!





Detective Wuggins first Case

Odd Things #6 Which is it?

Odd Things # 5--Beware of the Dog

This is actually a sad picture, because the crosses were put there after a traffic accident killed four people near here, but--next to the "beware of the dog" sign on the fence--it looks like quite a serious warning against trespass.

Odd Things #4: Decorated Box Car

Where do the homeless graffiti artists who live under railroad bridges get the detailing equipment to paint this way? And what does it mean? Is it a: "Romeo loves Juliet" or simply some Sudanese obscenity that unsuspecting photography buffs post on their blogs?

Odd Things # 3: I Guess they aren't Using this door anymore.

It's pretty hard to walk through this tree. In a few years...well ...

Silly Putty

If you have grandchildren, you might want to pick up some silly putty. Yes, it still exists, and it still comes in those little plastic egg shapes. They do make it in new colors though.
Zaya's is bright orange, and Mim's is a palid pink. Their first creations were to be expected.

Zaya made a brain. He showed it to me and described the cerebrum convolutions as that "thinking, piled up area on top". Then he went on to show me and that "smoother area in the back and the brain stem to control breathing and such".

Mim made a tornado. "Look!" she said as she twisted it around, "It's tornading" Hum. Interesting new verb for an Oklahoma girl. So I wrote silly putty limericks for them:

Dark storms from the west are invading
With ominous clouds circulating.
We run helter-skelter
For underground shelter.
The tornados are tornading.

The top of the brain looks all scrunchy
Full of thoughts like: "It's time for my lunchy".
The back's lightly grooved,
With a surface that's smoothed
And the stem's made of nerves in a bunchy.

Odd Things #2 Where are The Antique Windows?

This bothers me every time I walk down this street. Here is a lovely old home, tenderly re-modeled by its owners. So...where are the windows that should be so prominently featured in the cupola? Aarrgh. They ruined it!

Odd Things # 1

I took some pictures at an old cemetery the other day. It wasn't until I uploaded them later that I noticed the frogs...faithfully keeping vigil near their owner's resting place.

If I were really astute and incisive I would make some kind of life observation or parallel, but thoughts and words fail me.

In fact, when it comes to odd things, words fail me a lot. So I've decided to post a series on all the odd things I've taken pictures of this summer.

This is the first: tombstone frogs.

The Panhandle

I took a trip to Texas yesterday to enjoy a visit with my Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother and Sister-in-law. They all seem to be doing well. Mom's heart has settled down and quit jumping erratically; Dad's stomach is being able to keep food down--at least one big meal a day. (Yesterday it was chicken-fried steak, asparagus, mashed potatoes, gravy, cottage cheese, pickled beets, salad, and strawberries. Mom was a little worried because we didn't have enough vegetables and wanted to open some corn or green beans, but I assured here we had enough.) My brother and sister-in-law looked content, and my sister showed us the house she is buying. It's a beautiful, wall-papered cottage-type place which exudes personality. (Does that sound like agent-speak?)

When I left home there was cloud cover and heavy fog, but a light sun broke through before I arrived, and the day was bright and hot. In the evening, a storm came rolling across the sky from the West, so I had to leave a few minutes sooner than I planned to miss the lightning and rain.

Sun, sage, storm...all very beautiful!

Turtle's Little Joke

I was writing for Sketches this morning, addressing the "prompt" for Three Word Wednesday. The words were: noble, hidden, and roam. Just as I was finishing a poem, Turtle came into the room and asked what I was doing. Of course he wanted to know what the words were. Immediately, he came up with this one:

"When you watch an Italian movie, you wonder just how deeply hidden, is the secret which made the nobility of Rome."

Harvest Prayer

Ah Lord, let it be--
that my life yield such a gold,
abundant harvest!

Pistol Pete

That's the dog's name. Every morning he gets to walk a mile with his faithful owner, who is partially blind. Whenever the dog sees me coming, he sends out a yelp and begins to tangle his chain with the wild hope that I will stop to pet him. If I do, however, he jumps up and puts his front paws on my chest.

That's why the previous owner--a three year old boy--gave him to my neighbor, the mile-a-morning man. I think I could cure the dog of this disconcerting jumping habit by stepping on his hind toes every time he jumped on me, but I don't want to upset the status quo, so I'll leave him ignorantly in his misconceptions of what people like as dog behavior.

Being Specific

On Thursday morning, I had the following conversation with my six-year-old grandson as we ate breakfast at my house:

Zaya: Syrup on scrambled eggs is really good, Grandma. Want to try some?

Me: No thank you, Zay, I'm dieting and trying to avoid eating sugar.

Zaya: Oh. Well then what about fructose? (Pointing to my orange juice.)

Me: I'm not avoiding that. I'll eat fruit.

Zaya: Well what about lactose? (looking at the coffee creamer)

Me: I guess what I should have said was, I'm trying to avoid sucrose.

Zaya: Oh right. Ok.


He keeps me on my toes.

An Old Stump

Do you have an old stump in your yard? The kind that will take a fortune and a steam shovel to uproot? Well, I have an inexpensive solution for you. Turn it into an impressive, nature-coordinated flower pot.

Why I Rarely Take the Camera on Early Morning Walks...

...because they turn into early morning meanders.

Storm Clouds In the South

This evening I noticed a puffy thundercloud away to the south, so Turtle and I, having no obligations because of the holiday, drove out to the countryside and took pictures as the sun dropped down out of sight. We managed to get most of the sky, the evening light, background wheat, and even an old barn or two.