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The First Sunday in Lent
The sun favored us all day, rising in a golden mist, warming and drying the marshy earth. Jinx and I were out early, enjoying the welcome light. After our walk, I returned to the house. Jinx followed his own inner urgings and stayed out all day, napping in the sunshine beneath the Japanese maple out front. A washing machine on the fritz, a large limb broken somehow from the weeping willow, a new security light to install, a writing project to complete — the sun moved across the sky with extra speed today, or so it seemed. And now it dips towards the western ridge, and it’s not too long…
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Grace In Darkness
Today’s Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours was soothing to me as I sat before the crucifix and prayed the ancient prayers. A selection from Psalm 92: Though the wicked spring up like grass and all who do evil thrive: they are doomed to be eternally destroyed. But you, Lord, are eternally on high. See how your enemies perish; all doers of evil are scattered. It is indeed good to be reminded that there is nothing new under the sun, and that evil days have always plagued our race. The wicked are numerous. Those who do evil do thrive. But…I hope in the promises that God sees the…
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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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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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That’s Entertainment!
Jinx’s reaction to today’s Storming of the Bad Steal. ~ S.K. Orr
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On The Feast of Stephen
The dogs allowed us to sleep late today –0700 — and after they had eaten and while the good Texas pecan coffee was brewing, I took Jinx for a walk. Not even a hundred yards into the ramble and I was wishing I’d worn sunglasses. The fresh-risen sun was slashing across the diamond-studded smooth white surface laying on the fields, and it hurt my eyes. All about me, though, was beauty of the pure shocking kind that only wintertime can produce. The snow lay all around, deep and crisp and even, and Jinx chased a cow that had somehow escaped her fenced pasture. My heart lifted as the sun lifted,…
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White Christmas Eve
Our family Christmas party last night was a rousing success. It was so good to have everyone here, our usually quiet home transformed into a place of light and love and boisterous good fun. We were very pleased at Jinx’s behavior at his first large family gathering. He was calm and friendly,even when little boys were firing off toy machine guns a few feet from him. Sprawled in the floor and sporting his Yuletide bandanna, Jinx was an island of quiet in a tempest of child-noise. We awoke to rain this morning, and it grew steadily more intense throughout the day. By the time Jinx and I took our afternoon…
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And Suddenly It Was December
The new heat pump is working splendidly, which is a very good thing, given the teeth-chattering temperatures we’ve had this week. I’m grateful it wasn’t this cold and windy while the fellows were here installing everything. I think I neglected to mention that the gentleman who owns the HVAC company brought his father along for the second half of the festivities. He inherited the business from his dad. While they worked, I chatted with the father, an amiable man with a quick smile and penetrating blue eyes. Turns out that he actually installed the original furnace in our basement. He described doing the work all those years ago, and spoke…
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Wild Kingdom
Go ahead. It’ll be okay. Those little birds do it for crocodiles all the time… ~ S.K. Orr