Romancing The Coon

The day was raw, but it didn’t prevent me from doing some chores on which I’ve been procrastinating. The dog and I took a walk up in the cemetery this morning, a penetrating wind pushing us around the entire time. Mrs. Orr and I went down into town and ran a few errands, then returned home and took a brief nap (thank you, Jinx, for all your efforts to prevent us from sleeping too long!). While my wife worked on supper and baked what turned out to be an exquisite apple pie from scratch, I got the chainsaw and gave the crape myrtle tree out front a severe trimming, then cut and stacked some more firewood. I also installed a new motion-detector security light. All with the help of the spotted menace, naturally.

Speaking of whom….with his natural clumsiness and goofy personality, Jinx would certainly talk with Gomer Pyle’s voice if he ever spoke in a human tongue. If ever there were a gah-ahh-lee or a shazam dog, he lives here. As I type these words, both he and Dixee are sprawled in front of the fire in the woodstove. It was supposed to rain this evening, but it ended up snowing, one of the prettiest, fluffiest snows we’ve seen in a long time. Just enough to cover everything in an inch of muffled purity, and then it was over. For now.

And now the last Saturday in January is ebbing into the past, and raccoon mating season begins, and the pie sits easy in the stomach. I wish each of you an evening as peaceful as the one we’re having here.

~ S.K. Orr