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Spanking Clean
Got home and got the spotted menace into the bathtub. I won’t describe the barking, whining, frantic, scrambling details. I will only express gratitude. Gratitude that the mix of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and Dawn dish soap worked to remove the skunk-stink. And gratitude that it’s over. Until the next time Jinx decides the black cat with the white stripey tail is just soooooo cute and irresistable. Farm life. Jinx life. Here we are. Praise Christ for another day. ~ S.K. Orr
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Hoist By His Own Inner Retard
Mrs. Orr reported that when she let Jinx outside this morning, he was full of zest: bounding around, leaping, grinning, eager to get outside. I got up shortly after she did and after pouring a cup of coffee, I went to see if Jinx was ready to come inside and eat his breakfast. He was, and he trotted through the door and into the dining room. And that’s when it hit me. “Could you come here a sec? I think I smell something.” I called to my wife. She poked her head around the door. “Oh, no,” she said. Skunk. Majorly. Ah, hell. This is going to be a very…
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Intact Routine
Yesterday was one of the most perfect days I can remember. When we awoke, a cool front had blown in and it was raining steadily. After feeding the dogs, my wife started breakfast (breakfast burritos from scratch…just one more element in a perfect day) and I took the spotted menace out for a soaking ramble through the hills. The mist was curling like Fafnir’s breath, silver and sinister, reaching into hidden places erupting from black chasms in the slick rock. We padded along, Jinx’s paws making a curious leatherlike sound on the wet leaves. We walked and looked and stopped and gazed and strolled and smiled — yes, Jinx smiles…
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I, Too, Want To Encourage Brandon To Go
You’ll probably never again see me recommend a television show, but in this instance, I must. Last night’s opening monologue on Tucker Carlson’s show was gold. The mockery was so thick you could spackle with it. It was as if Tucker asked The Babylon Bee to write his teleprompter notes. This is perhaps the best way to address what’s going on in this world. The devil cannot tolerate being laughed at. ~ S.K. Orr
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Let It Stay
The sky was as blue as a cornflower marble, wisps of cirrus clouds high in the ceiling, and there were no vapor trails, no intruding airplanes. There were only hawks up there, and Jinx, sky-aware as always, sat with me and watched them in their fixed-wing thermal soarings. We were in the cemetery grass, and it was warm and soft there in the green, on the carpet that covers the sleeping remains of fathers and daughters, mothers and sons. The carved and lettered stones stood around us as if watching, and they were speaking, though not in voices a waking man can hear. I watched Jinx as he watched the…
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Columbus Day
Ho-hum, another dead white male who exploited and killed the gentle, prosperous peoples he encountered on his greedy voyages, right? Christopher Columbus explicitly and repeatedly averred his devotion to Christ and his desire to bring the gospel to the heathen lands to which he sailed, but since no “historian” alive today could believe in something as tiresome as the claims of Christ and His Church, Columbus must have been motivated by a lust for gold and plunder. That’s the way we hear it, right? As for me, I say God bless the memory of Christopher Columbus and his deeds. I feel a kinship with him because I am a member…
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Happy Birthday, Mrs. Orr
Happy Birthday to the love of my life, who is the best and kindest and most virtuous human being I have ever known. The two of us spent the day doing exactly what we wanted, and it was fine. I even got some country ham out of the deal… As the day ends, I am aware of all that I have, of all that has been given me. I love you, Mrs. Orr. Happy Birthday to my little Texas girl. ~ S.K. Orr
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All The Wistful Creatures
Today is the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Catholic monk best known for his intentional poverty and his association with animals. One of his most famous prayers, offered on behalf of animals, is this: Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends, the animals, especially for those who are suffering; for animals that are overworked, underfed and cruelly treated; for all the wistful creatures in captivity, that beat their wings against bars; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted, or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death. We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity, and for those who…
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Mine Own Compline
This is a spiritual exercise, and I want you to do it with me. Right now. Go and get a candle and place it on a desk or table before you, and light it. Stare at the flame for a moment, that blue and yellow tongue that feeds on the exact same oxygen as you. Then close your eyes. Bow your head as you did when you were a child, and bring your hands up, palms together, left thumb looped over the right. As you did when you were a child. Place the tips of your index fingers on your lips; your middle fingers will probably be on or just…
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Leaves Change, Dogs Lie
As I write these words, Jinx is sleeping in the recliner on the back porch. I came out here to do a bit of writing and he came out with me. As is his custom, the spotted menace hopped up in my lap to snuggle, and so scribbling with my pencil in my notebook became nigh impossible. We rocked and watched the rain and the birds and the chipmunks, and we rested. I needed to go inside at one point so I could put clothes into the dryer, and when I stood up, Jinx got back into the chair and made himself comfortable. When I returned, he was asleep, but…