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Wang Dang…
A short while ago, there was a ruckus on the back porch. The dogs and I went out to investigate, and when I shined my light around, I saw a hunched, gray figure hurrying up the ridge into the woods. All I can say is that if Joy Cartwright and I get awakened in the wee hours because of this interloper and our dogs’ determination to dialogue with him, someone is going to get a piece of firewood laid across the cranium with precision and dispatch. Like livin’ in Nashville up in here… ~ S.K. Orr
- Bluebelle, Church Life, Daily Life, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Jinx, Mrs. Orr, Photographs, Reflections
Paths of Freeze
Upon our second awakening this morning, the sun showed the crushed glass rug of frost all over everything, and my bones felt as if someone had injected crushed glass into the joints. Second awakening? Oh, yes. Our first awakening of the day was at about, ohhhhhh, 0230, when the dogs began snorting around outside our bedroom and demanding some attention. We got up to let ’em out and and see what might be yanking their emotional chains. They ran straight to the maple tree in the back yard and started leaping up on it like trained coon dogs. I shined the flashlight up into the bare branches and expected to…
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Across The Silent Night Sky
The weekend was a mellow, mild, and very welcome time to be at home and with my wife. We didn’t launch into any major projects, but did a lot of what I call “piddling around,” and enjoyed being outside in the warm weather. I’ve learned not to overestimate my stamina anymore, so I don’t plan day-long series of projects. I do one, take a break, assess how I feel, then move on to another one IF I still have gas in my tank. We have had problems with squirrels getting into Mrs. Orr’s flowers in pots on the porches, so I cut circles from hardware fabric, cut a circle in…
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Summer Comes In
While the spotted twins snoozed on the back porch this morning, I walked for an hour and inhaled summer’s new air, holding it in my lungs like a stoner, letting it absorb into my body and give me a morning buzz. The neighbor’s feed corn is thigh-high, the leaves grinning their green grins beneath the sun’s path. While I leaned against the fence and scanned the rows, I could still hear the dogs — two yappy Dachshunds and a basset mix — carping about my temerity in daring to pass their house on the way to the pastures. I knew that if I was near Jinx and Bluebelle, I would…
- Bluebelle, Daily Life, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Jinx, Photographs, Prayers, Reflections
A Riot of Heelers
We spent most of yesterday sawing back and forth, emotions and logic battling it out, leaving us weary and unsure. Should we go look at the dog I believe to be Jinx’s sister? Should we leave well enough alone? Should we introduce chaos into a two-dog house that have finally reached a certain balance? What if she doesn’t fit in? What if our dogs’ personalities change and they become tense and unhappy? I watched the clock swing towards 100 pm, the hour the animal shelter opens on Saturdays. The dogs were asleep; Mrs. Orr and I were silent, brooding our own thoughts to ourselves. I walked up to Bonnie’s grave…
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Numbering The Stones
If you look carefully at the photo above, you will see a daddy longlegs in the upper left quadrant. I took this picture this past Saturday while Jinx and I were exploring in the little country cemetery near our farm. We were there explicitly to count the gravestones, something I had been meaning to do for some time. The gravestone itself is one of my favorites, the marker of a Jesse Lane, who served the Confederacy in a regiment from his home state. The stone is simple and dignified, like the ones at Arlington National Cemetery, and I usually touch it in passing. On this particular cool day, it radiated…
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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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The Pages of the Days
Jinx and I were on the road this morning while it was still dark. Dark in terms of “the sun hadn’t arisen yet,” but not in terms of a lack of light. God held the full moon above us — I believe the almanac named this one a Cold Moon, but in Texas, since it’s occurring in August, it’s a Comanche Moon — and the shadows the dog and I threw on the road were black and stark and eerie. Adding to the atmosphere were a witchy mist floating in the hollers and the calls of screech owls and hoot owls haunting the humid air above the dark fields. During…
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Inarcurlated Outlaw
I suppose it was bound to happen. Though I have held out hope, a superstitious confidence written on slips of tissue paper and tucked into the fissures in my heart. Now it’s caught up with me, and I see how futile my hope was. Middle of the afternoon, and my phone buzzes. Unfamiliar number, so I silenced it and went on about my business. A few minutes later I glanced at the screen. Voicemail waiting. Found a private room and listened. “This is Lacy? And um? Your dog is here at our house? Can you call me back?” So I called her back, and I got the story. Jinx had…
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May’s First Week
I took advantage of the mild, warm weather on Saturday and tackled a project I’ve long been delaying…cleaning out the small barn. I figured I’d get it done during the morning, and then use the afternoon to clean out and organize the old goat shed so I could use it as a firewood shed. Ah, the best-laid plans. The small barn took all day, and I have been paying for it ever since. While I slept the last two nights, some imp from below snuck into our home and poured ground glass into the base of my spine, along my shoulders, into the soles of my feet, and behind my…