-
Quietus, Hiatus, and Other Us’s
Since returning from our trip home to Texas, I’ve been poleaxed with a deep lethargy, augmented in no small part by the weather. The warmer climes of the Lone Star State were a lovely but too-brief respite from the chill we’ve had since we returned to the farm. This morning it was in the teens and neither of us really warmed up all day, even with the heat pump running constantly (a pox on the house of whatever maladroit conceived of the idea of a “heat” pump….probably an ancestor of whoever designed the modern cars, washing machines, etc.). I’ll observe yet again that the difference between the cold months and…
-
Home, Home
We were back home in Texas this past week, and we’re still decompressing, so it’ll be a few days before I post a new one. Suffice it to say the dogs are very happy to be back in their own home and have been spending approximately 2 hours per day romping and rassling, and 22 hours per day sleeping the deepest sleep. Deep sleep to the point where we are envious of them. Ah, to be able to fall down into that sort of restful slumber with nothing to disturb us. I hope all of you are well and having a stress-free season of Thanksgiving Day preparation. ~ S.K. Orr…
-
October, Enter Stage Right
The hummingbirds are gone for the year, I think. We saw a couple yesterday, and heard them as they were droning around in the trees, but that was earlier in the day. By early evening, they were not to be seen. This morning, no hum nor squeak greeted me when I opened the back door. We watched all morning for them but no hummingbirds. I took down all the feeders and replaced the nectar except in one, which was mostly being used by wasps, anyway. All the day long while we were outside, we strained our ears and eyes, but never heard nor saw any of the beautiful little paint…
-
Who Can Say?
A hundred and forty-six years ago today, the Indian warrior Crazy Horse fought his last battle before being taken by the U.S. Army. He would be stabbed and killed by a guard while in captivity some time later. I respect a man who ferociously fought those whom he believed had stolen his land and heritage. He fought. Isn’t that shocking to your modern eyes? Oh, we shouldn’t resist evil. We shouldn’t fight. We should meekly submit to all authority. We wouldn’t want to get in trouble, would we? When I was a boy, a common cliche’ about Indians was that they believed heaven was a “happy hunting ground.” Well, I…
-
East Again
It’s a funny thing, how fast everything moves in this world, and how that existential speed can disorient us. A week and a half ago, we got into a box of metal and steel, and we sat in it all day and part of the night, and when we got out of the box, we were in another country. We were in Texas, and how did that happen? It’s also a funny thing how different people can be in different regions of the same country. When we go home to Texas to visit, we’re always struck with how different the people are from the people we live around now. We’re…
-
Wantin’ To Go To Texas
I incurred the displeasure of the dogs today by plunking a small straw cowboy hat on their heads and taking photos of them. But I do believe — ah, here is mystery! — that they warmed to the experience, and that they were spurred (if I may be allowed a small pun) to cast their thoughts to Tejas, and to dream of being cattle dogs, and of chousing longhorns across a bluebonnet-draped field, and to rout the javelinas in the thicket, and to never again be really cold, and to learn to tell the difference between rattlesnakes and blacksnakes. Clothes make the man, they say, and hats make the dog,…
-
Snippets
I let the dogs out into the back yard while my wife was drying her hair tonight, just as full dark settled down onto the green slopes. Looking north, I saw a series of silent flashes, looking just like artillery does from a distance. But the boom-boom-booms never came, never rolled towards me. Silent and silver. Heat lightning. I opened the door and called to Mrs. Orr, and she came outside. After we watched for a minute, I took two chairs down into the yard and we sat for a while and watched the quiet light show, including the lightning bugs that danced in the woods and along the fenceline.…
- Bluebelle, Church Life, Daily Life, Holy Days, Jinx, Movies, Mrs. Orr, Music, Photographs, Prayers, Reflections, Saints
Memorials
I walked the road the other morning alone, leaving Jinx and Bluebelle to romp in the backyard while I strolled the mountain lane, and I noticed how the gravel at the edges of the road had been ground down by the tires and tires and tires until it resembled nothing so much as gray aquarium rock. If I had one of those glass boxes full of water and marine life and topped with a humming light — I’ve never in my life owned an aquarium, and usually only think of them when I read Loren Eisley, who spent a childhood making and stocking his own — I would scoop up…
-
Undisciplined
I have tried to keep to my schedule of weekly postings of memoir entries, but sometimes things just load up on me and I can’t do it. Lacka damn discipline, my Drill Instructors would have said. If I can’t offer my own words, I’ll offer someone else’s much more talented take on this life. For now, it’ll be Miranda Lambert and a little sample of her Marfa Tapes album. If you’ve ever seen the movies “Hud” or “Giant,” you’ve seen Marfa, Texas, a mysterious place of bleak and blasted beauty. Miz Lambert took two of her musician buddies out there, armed only with acoustic guitars and two microphones, and they…
-
Coof Positive
My beloved wife has the Covid. She’s positive for the ‘Rona. She has been stricken with The Chinese Lung Aids (hat tip to Ann Barnhardt for that little phrase). She all eat up wif de Coof. She’s been smitten with the Birdemic. She’s been assaulted by the Kung Flu, laid low by the Chyna Vyrus. She developed a fever last night and was very achey and flu-ish. We did a home test that we’d been given and we got the positive result in 10 minutes. The main concern has been chest congestion, which is the one thing that truly causes her distress. We’ve been treating her with Ivermectin (again, thanks,…