Jinx
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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…
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Full Wolf Moon
Jinx spent a lot of time up on the ridge last night, blending his voice with the keening yips of the coyotes on the next ridge. They were singing their ancient song to the moon, telling tales of her power and allure and treachery. When I was going about my morning ablutions today, I noticed in the mirror that I had a series of scratches along my back near where my arm attaches to my shoulder, red lines along my latissimus dorsi. Then I saw a series very thin and deep scratches on my chest and abdomen, the sort a sharp cat’s claw might make. I touched all of the…
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No Such Things
All across this country, animal shelters are full to bursting. In the region in which I live, I’ve noticed that the majority of dogs in shelters are some variety of the notorious pit bull. The dogs themselves do make warning lights go off in my head when I see them. I have been around a few pit bulls that seemed friendly enough, but their very appearance puts me in mind of monsters like the uruk-hai: creatures bred specifically for a malign purpose. Yes, yes, I know, I know. There are no such things as bad dogs…only bad owners. Every time I have expressed my unease with this breed of dog,…
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A Day No Cows Would Suffer
Le On the drive home Friday, I was thinking about how nice it is to be able to leave Jinx in the house while we’re gone, and how pleased we have been that he has never displayed the slightest inclination to destroy anything out of boredom. When I arrived home, I saw him poking his snout through the blinds, waiting for me to let him out. When I approached the door, I noticed something odd about Jinx’s appearance. “Odd,” I thought. “He looks like Stonewall Jackson. I wonder when he grew a beard?” When I opened the door, I got my answer. At some point during the day, Jinx had…
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Wings Of Contemplation
We received a surprise skiff of snow during the night, and an even more surprising squall of the stuff during the morning, giving us a couple of inches of nice, fluffy snow, the kind that squeaks beneath the boot and provides good traction. The sun came out a while ago, but more snow is supposed to move in during the night. Jinx is keeping a close eye on the weather forecast, as snow is one of his great joys in life. He enjoys speeding along the ground like a spotted rocket, nose barely above terra firma, mouth slightly ajar and scooping up loads of the stuff. He stops occasionally to…
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Hodie
I poured a cup of coffee this morning and then let the dogs out into the back yard. Standing on the ice-slick deck, I listened to the sounds from the dark. Fog made everything sound close, amplified yet muffled. A deer broke and ran in the woods. I could hear the heavy rhythmic thumping as it leapt over logs and obstacles on its way to the far fence. Jinx was transfixed by the sound, but I suspect he knew better than to give chase. It occurred to me just then that so much these days is obscured by fog and darkness. I do not know all of what moves out…
- Church Life, Daily Life, Holy Days, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Jinx, Movies, Quotations, Reflections
Blue Skies, Hidden Lives, Unvisited Tombs
The day dawned under a sheet of gray, with the clouds in the east giving way to the sun, as if a long florescent tube had been flicked on just beyond the mountains. Jinx cavorted in the snow and carried chunks of ice around as if they were prizes beyond compare. The roosters one farm over called to the brightening sky as I crunched my way past, and the breeze was slight enough that my face was not numb when we reached home. While drinking our coffee, Mrs. Orr and I finished watching a movie we’d started last night. The movie was A Hidden Life, directed by Terence Malick, and…
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That’s Entertainment!
Jinx’s reaction to today’s Storming of the Bad Steal. ~ S.K. Orr
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The Epiphany of the Lord
While on our daybreak walk this morning, Jinx and I watched two men setting up chairs under the tent at the newly-opened grave in the little country graveyard. The spotted menace seems to take a special interest in the craft of the sexton; I was grateful he didn’t leap onto the tarp covering the grave. This time. The wind was chilly and brisk but not unbearable…about 43F. The clouds moved like a flock of sheep across the sky, low and swift and wooly, and the tang of silage came to me when I turned into the wind. As I walked, watching Jinx gallop in one of the pastures, I engaged…
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Languages
The super-frigid temperatures have subsided somewhat, and so the snow has had a chance to melt a bit. Today it’s in the 40s, with the high 50s forecast by Friday. If this prediction holds, the New Year will come riding in on a mild current of air. Thought I love the cold weather, it has been nice to walk with Jinx in the evenings and not wince and shiver and grimace against the onslaught of the twin blades of wind and ice crystals. I’ve shoveled with a diligent rhythm against the mountain of leftovers remaining after Christmas day, and we are nearing the end of them. Unlike many others, I…