Into the West

Day 2 of the Great Adventure
We left Pittsburgh on Saturday, July 7 a little before 5pm. We figured that by leaving that late we'd miss the worst of the heat on the road and also the insanity that is Chicago.

As it stands I actually missed Chicago completely. Animal and I traded driving duties and I pooped out within a few miles of the Windy City. (She told me there was a lot of traffic, even at 1am. Quel surprise.)

We had sort of figured on getting past that hurdle and then finding a motel, but she got her second wind and kept going. We traded off at 7:30am (yes, I know. Me awake at that hour!) and we arrived at our hotel around 1-ish.

After eating and some light shopping (we found a Thrift Store!!!) we are both collapsed on our separate beds, messing with computers and unable to process much in the way of being productive. At some point we will go looking to see what can be seen, but for the moment we are burnt!

Tomorrow we head to the fair to set up. The performing starts on Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed for cool(er) weather.

Ta for now.

D

Facts about Stink bugs

1. They are an introduced species that have reached plague proportions in recent years

2. They destroy fruit crops
3. In the fall they invade structures (houses) and hibernate
4. They emit an oil when alarmed, thus earning the name
5. They are suicidal around me

I have told them repeatedly that if I see them they are shortly thereafter going to be dead. (I capture and eliminate by drowning in water with soap added.) No stinkbug that I can reach will escape me if I have anything to say about it.

I must insert here that I do not kill lightly or with malice aforethought - I dislike killing on principle, but it must be done. It's them or us, and I vote for us (this time).

THE GREAT ADVENTURE HAS BEGUN - SORTA

For those who don't know, I'm off on a grand adventure starting tomorrow. I'm going to N. Dakota to perform with my friend Animal X at the State Fair in Fargo. After we fulfill that obligation we're going to go looking for sacred sites in the rest of the state (i consider North and South Dakota to be the same place.) We may actually (depending on how much meandering we do) get to Devils Tower in Wyoming (Close Encounters, anyone?:-)

I intend to journal my trip, though probably not on a daily basis (we'll see). But for anyone interested - stay tuned.

Now, as to the sorta begun that's in the title - I consider the fact that the girls are doing a two week sleep over with my wonderful compadre, Sherry, the beginning of the adventure, mostly because I had to round them up, stuff them in cages and then drive them in this heat across as town part of the journey.

I'm sleeping alone tonight. I miss them. :-(

Meanwhile, after much ruminating, Animal and I have decided to leave tomorrow afternoon so that we will hit Chicago well after the main madness (although not all of the madness - it is Chicago after all) is over. We need to be in Fargo by Monday.

For those interested - you can go on Youtube and look for The Enchanted Wagon to see what we'll be doing.

Should be interesting.

I'm also planning to post some pictures if the technology cooperates.

I'm signing off for now.

Westward ho!

DE

CRITTER CHRONICLE – 5/15/1

So there I was, talking on the phone with my mother. It was around 9:45pm. In comes Vivre with a maus.

WHAT THE HELL!!!

Yeah, I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but to tell you the truth I let my guard down.

See, it’s like this – last year the attached vacant house was finally boarded up and the windows closed. I assumed (wrongly I see now) that that was the source of the rodents the girls were bringing in.

Nope. 

And this was a maus, not a vole (mousy face, long tail, grey, etc.)

I had to promptly discontinue my conversation with mom and go on the hunt for my rodent catching supplies. Couldn’t find them. Meanwhile Vivre was wandering around the house trying to figure out where she’s going to play maus hockey.  

I managed to shoo her into the stairwell and block her off. It was a temporary fix while I scrambled to find cardboard and plastic container. It did help that she allowed maus to make a dash for freedom so she could have the fun of hunting it down. 

I arrived in place just as she was about to jump my makeshift barrier and let the fun continue in the larger venue of my kitchen (oh joy). My refusal to allow her access allowed the little vermin to make another break for it and she had to scramble down the stairs after it. 

Unfortunately I’m in the process of sorting through books with the intent to destash, and there are several boxes on the stairs which maus took full advantage of – hiding behind and making the whole hide-and-seek thing way more fun (for the cat, anyway).

And then Freyje showed up.

Somehow she took over the maus hunt, cornered it and was about to make my life just that much more interesting. But through quick action, and the use of my superior intellect (open front door in preparation of  removing maus) I managed to corner Ms. Rodentia, cover it, slide the cardboard under and then relocate it to the vacant lot next door.

Yay.

So now both Vi and Freyj aren’t talking to me. Vi is also out looking for another victim and I’m going to find my stuff. Pronto.

And so it begins.

<sigh>

2011 Vernal Equinox

Sunday, March 20 is the spring equinox.

Saturday, March 19 is a super full moon  (the biggest full moon since 1983 will rise from the eastern horizon. The moon will appear large because it’s reaching its “perigree”, the closest approach to earth in its orbit.)

The coinciding of these two events have made me want to honor life and the planet in general, so I've been researching ancient rituals, particularly those that do not involve sacrificing anything breathing.

I came upon this on THE LOTUS POND blog which looks to fill the bill

 

<"a very simple but effective ritual, based on the ceremony suggested by Nancy Brady Cunningham in Feeding the Spirit. Each person chose a seed or bulb that was meaningful to them. We blessed the seeds with a prayer from Campanelli: 

"Now is the dark half of the year passing Now do the days grow light and the Earth grows warm I summon the spirit of these seeds Which have slept in darkness Awaken, stir and swell Soon you will be planted in the earth To grow and bring froth new fruit Blessed be! 

We sat quietly and visualized our plants in full bloom. Then we invoked each of the four elements necessary for the plants’ growth. We placed the seed in a pot of soil and patted down the earth, poured water on it, breathed on it to represent air and held the pot over a candle (or up to the sun, if outside) to represent the element fire (the warmth of the sun).

Add another layer of meaning to this ceremony by choosing seeds which represent the things you want to grow during the new year- — wisdom, understanding, patience, etc. Visualize those qualities coming into full bloom in your life as you plant your seeds.>

I'm sure some folks would be turned off because this is a "pagan" thing. But I think this transcends a specific religious belief and honors the miracles of transition and growth. And don't we need to get back to acknowledging the true wonder that is our planet, no matter how it came to be?

Regardless, I think we should all take a few minutes on Saturday and Sunday to acknowledge two very wondrous events and say thanks for the opportunity to be a part of it all.

Crazy night update

So, what I've gleaned about the other night is that there were 3 people in the car - a guy, his cousin and a girl (someone's girlfriend, i believe). Apparently after the crash the girl ran to my neighbors house bleeding. The guy got his cousin out of the car, but the cousin fell down and couldn't/wouldn't get up. (I think that was the "get up!" I heard.)


The neighbor called 911.

Sure am glad to know that bit. The position of the guy under the car was making me Nuts!

So that's it. Probably am not going to find out anything else since it still has not been reported on the news.

Oh well.

OH! The weirdness

Yesterday, Saturday, was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, and thought temps weren’t balmy they were in the upper 50’s. Snow was melted from the ground. All in all it was a good enough day to let the girls out into the yard. This was the first time since last year and they were both raring to go. So I let them.

Approximately every hour I would chick to see if they wanted to come in. Freyje too every opportunity to come in and go out, but there was no sign of Vivre, and as the day wore into evening and then into night I grew more and more concerned. Finally, sometime after midnight, I threw in the towel and went to bed, but slept lightly in case she managed to make her way to a window.

Around 2:30ish I hear voices outside my window. It sounded like my neighbors arguing so I decided to ignore it as best I could. There was some yelling and a couple of flat cracks as if they were breaking boards. At some point I heard someone yell “get up!” a couple of times and at that point I guess I decided someone was drunk so I definitely did not want to pay attention.

And then I heard the fire engine siren whoop from up the street and I had to get up and look. Unfortunately my windows have plastic on them so I couldn’t see any details but not only was there a fire truck there were at least three police cars out there. I threw on my robe and went to take a closer look (and possibly get my cat in if she was around). 

When I got downstairs I found the front door open and my downstairs neighbors standing on the porch looking (so not them as I had thought). About 20 yards from the house nose into a tree was a car. And under the car was a man, face down on the sidewalk with the fire department and police working to get him out. 

Definitely did not expect that.

From what I gleaned from what my (very drunk) neighbor George was saying, was that the man under the car had been with some other people, and that they had run away. There was also some confusion about the license plate being ripped off the car by some person, and sure enough, when I got a look the license plate was gone.

So, after gawking at this for a bit until they got the guy on a backboard, and seeing no sign of Vivre (and being cold because it still is winter), I went back to bed and spent the next hour or so listening to the cleanup – fire department leaving, tow truck winching the car away from tree and onto flatbed, etc.

Couldn’t sleep for a long time after. Was worried about V and also trying to figure out how a man who is run over by a car that is facing downhill is face down and facing uphill under the rear bumper. (Still can’t figure that out.)

So it was a bad night, and I finally dozed off to awaken somewhat early for me on a Sunday (9am). Went down to feed the fuzzy monster (Freyje) and was planning to go looking for the baby girl (V) when I looked out the kitchen window and say a very fuzzy, very dirty kitty stalking a bird in the backyard. I opened the window and called her then ran down and let her in. 

I think she was cursing at me as she came in but then blew that attitude by stopping for a cuddle before running up the stairs and devouring dinner like she hadn’t eaten since the Garfield administration.

Afterwards she curled up on my lap and let me comb the burrs out of her tail.

I checked on the news and there are no reports of any accidents in my area from last night, so I have no idea what the hell that was about. Will keep you posted if something comes up.

Right now I have a sleeping, purring cat on my lap and I’m supposed to be getting ready to go out. Cats have the ability to increase their gravitational field, for those who don’t know, and it makes it very hard to get up once they have activated that power. 

I’ll give her a few minutes before I start trying to escape.

Have a good one, folks.