Our Next Holiday

It wasn't until 1983 that Congress passed a bill to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. with a Federal holiday.  The bill was vociferously opposed by many Senators and Representatives, most notably and loudly by North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms.  President Ronald Reagan had threatened to veto the bill.  He relented when the numbers approving passage would override his veto.  He signed to bill into law.

Many states did not want to have another holiday in general and some of them did not want to honor King specifically.  Various names were developed to avoid calling the holiday Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Martin Luther King, Jr. has been dead for more years than he lived on earth.

While I was too young to care much about the landmark 1954 civil rights case of Brown v. Board of Education I was an eager participant in marches promoting the enforcement of the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964.

I had quite an awakening when I realized how segregated my life had been.  I grew up in a mountain town with a very small black population.  I never attended school with a black person until I went to college.  I assumed that the separation of people by race was everyone's preference.

My parents were basically good people, but they resented King, his marches, and the Freedom Riders.  To them, northern agitators were stirring up problems in the south.  After all, "our negroes" were quite happy with the way things were and would be uncomfortable going to school with whites.  Despite the feelings of my parents, at an early age I was mesmerized by the speeches of Martin Luther King.  I admired what he said and his words gave me more understanding of racial problems than any other single thing.  Perhaps my sharpest and most painful memory was the sight of young children attacked by dogs and fierce flow from water hoses.  When I watched it crying, my parents were not pleased and sent me to my room.

I have since read the three volumes of Taylor Branch's histories about the civil rights movement.  I can highly recommend these books although they are very lengthy and in great detail.  I can assure you that whether you lived through the movement, or read about it in school, these books will shed light on how things were and how they moved forward.

 Parting the Waters chronicles the happenings between 1954 and 1963, and earned Branch the Pulitzer Prize for history.

 Pillar of Fire covers the years 1963-1965.

 At Canaan's Edge, the final book in the trilogy covers America between 1965 and 1968.

It will take you quite a while to read the entire trilogy, but it will definitely be time well spent.  I am fascinated by the history of blacks in the south.  [NOTE:  I do not use the phrase "African-American."  Most blacks are no more African than I am Irish.  In general, we do not refer to people based on the home of their long-dead ancestors.  I really hate it when I hear people talk about an African-American in the UK, a person who has never even visited the United States!)   I especially love reading about the local Civil Rights Movement and our area's involvement in the Civil War.

Here in the mountains, there was little slavery and loyalties were divided house by house (and often within the same house) during the Civil War.  The women left behind were more often threatened by the scalawags who remained than by the Union Army.  There were slaves in western North Carolina, generally brought to the area to serve the wealthy plantation owners who came to the mountains for a respite from the hot summers in South Carolina and Georgia.  With a few exceptions, slaves who might have died here were buried in separate, often unmarked graves.  There were some cemeteries that allotted a portion to be used for blacks, but the graves were usually not marked by name.  One of our local cemeteries contains a large area of graves marked by stones with no engraving at all.  These stones mark the graves of the black slaves buried there.

 This section of the cemetery is marked by a large stone with the following plaque:

If you wish to honor Dr. King, then make next Monday a day of doing service.  And if you want a more comprehensive understanding of the Civil Rights Movement in America, start reading Branch's books.

Skunk Below the Deck

Our bird feeders and water are mounted on our deck.  Since we do not want to attract raccoons, bears, or flying squirrels we move all the feeders to the garage every evening.  In winter we also dump the water out of the bird bath to prevent freezing.

Last week my husband was getting ready to dump the water when he looked down.  He called me outside.  What do you do when you see a skunk directly below you?  Well, you surely do not dump a pan of water on him or startle him in any way.  And if you have a blog, you grab the camera for a few photographs before the skunk ambles on his way.

The photographs are not especially good ones.  I didn't take a lot of time to change the settings for a nightime picture.  I both feared and wished the skunk would move on right away.  I'm posting them anyway since I suspect you have not looked directly down at a skunk.

He stands near a drain to eat leftover bird seed.  Thank goodness he is much too large to fit inside the drain.

 He moves away from the drain.

 NOTE to husband:  Get the leaf blower out and blow those seeds into the woods.

The skunk family is made up of eleven species, most of them common throughout the United States.  Known primarily for their lingering and noxious spray, they are also vectors of rabies.  That is especially a problem here in the southeastern US.

Dog owners are always fearful that their dogs will encounter a skunk.  A terrible skunk story came from my husband's co-worker.  She was dressed and ready for work.  She stepped outside to call the dog only to see the dog chasing a skunk right into the garage.  The skunk released its spray directly under her car!  Dog, car, garage and the woman reeked of the  skunk odor.  They never were able to completely rid the car of the odor.

We have been very fortunate so far, but we keep a skunk de-odor kit in a pail ready for immediate use.  While there are several remedies, the one with hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and mild liquid soap seems to work better than tomato juice, beer, or even commercially available products.  You can find it here.  We do take some precautions to avoid interaction with skunks.  We close the garage door at dusk when we bring in the bird feeders.  We never let the dogs off leash at night.  We wear headlamps and scan the driveway and street before taking the dogs out at night.

When you choose to live in the woods, you have to expect encounters with the animals whose habitat you are invading.  But we hope to continue to respect the skunks from afar and not up-close-and-personal.

Fridays are Golden

We think our girls are very smart.  So we decided to give them "educational" gifts this year.  We picked up a couple of toys into which we put little treats.  Both toys require that the dogs figure out a way to get to the treats.  One toy is a hard plastic bottle.  A rope is attached to the stopper so the dog has to push, not pull, the rope while turning the bottle slightly upward.  If the bottle is turned completely upside-down the stopper again covers the opening.  So there is a very fine margin between tilting the bottle enough to get the treats and tilting it so far that the stopper drops to cover the hole.

Both dogs were really interested.

 Ellie decides to use the rope as a chew toy.

 Ellie gave up on the bottle and Lucy checked it out.  Neither of them ever figured how to get the treats out of the bottle.  They had no further interest in it, so another wasted twenty bucks at the pet store.

 Lucy worked with the other toy but didn't seem to grasp the idea.

 In a quick minute Ellie figured out how to get to the treats.

 Lucy immediately joined her and started snatching the treats as soon as Ellie got them out.

 Bored with one toy empty of treats and the other toy which never gave up any of the treats, the girls went back to squirrel duty.  One of their favorite activities is guarding the deck.  They know how I hate those beady-eyed little monsters.

I am fairly certain I heard Lucy complain, "Next year they will probably give us clothes!"

  

The puzzles are designed to keep dogs busy especially when you are away.  These two toys would not keep the girls occupied very long.  Once they ate all the treats (in a matter of a few minutes) they had no further interest in one of the toys.  They totally ignored the toy that had stumped them.  They were not interested in it despite the visible and aromatic treats inside.  Fortunately, our dogs have no separation anxiety at all.  In fact, I think they rather like being in charge of the house.  We often leave them all day and hire a dog walker to drop by the house and take them for a walk.

Here it is 2012!  And so we begin a new year.   Hal Borland, best known for his nature books and his editorials in the New York Times had an interesting take on the beginning of the year:

"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us."

So friends, let's just keep on going on.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND, EVERYONE, ON THIS FIRST  WEEKEND OF THE NEW YEAR!

Decorations

Our house was a bustle of activity over the holidays.  Our last guest left early yesterday morning and now the house seems quiet and empty...even more so as we take down the Christmas decorations.

We don't do a lot of outdoor decorating...just wreaths and bows here and there.  But I do love to drive around and enjoy the outdoor decorations at other houses.  I cannot believe the number of inflatable decorations that one can buy these days.  When the stores open for after-Christmas sales, the inflatables are grabbed up quickly.  We even saw one in which Santa was on a ladder and a little puppy had pulled down his pants as he climbed up.  (Boxers for Santa, by the way.)  But there are still people who put out lots of light displays and those are the ones I love best.

Our daughter loves the outdoor decorations as much as I do, so we drove around aimlessly looking at houses.  One in particular drew our attention.

The gecko takes time off his regular job.

 The yard was filled with figures and lights.

 Elmo greeted us but we didn't tickle him.

 And a pink pig dresses up with reindeer antlers.

We saw the display in daylight.  Of course, we drove back that evening to see everything in lights.

 We were not disappointed.

I love decorations that people have in their yards year round.  I have seen cement figures of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and all sorts of animals.  The most popular around here seem to be the two frogs sitting beneath the umbrella, the little boy and girl kissing platonically, and a fair number of little boys peeing.  While I might not want all of these things in my yard, I just love the fact that other people do.  Art is truly in the eye of the beholder and people might look at the things we have in our yard and vow they would never put that in their own yards.  I like that.



I wish we were all as tolerant of other people's beliefs as we are of their taste in art.

Fridays are Golden

Here we are.  It's almost Christmas at our house.  The past two Christmases have been a bit muted to say the least.  But all is well this year and we are so looking forward to the big day.  We always do a lot of decorating which, by the way, is ever so much easier when you are retired and don't have to do it all in one weekend.  One of my favorite decorations is a lovely Santa, complete with toys for good little girls and boys.

There is an interesting little story about this Santa.  My husband bought it in Sarasota, FL where he was attending a conference.  He asked the store owner to ship it to his office since it was a surprise for me.  A few weeks later, a very large box arrived at his office.  The package was actually two boxes taped together.  When my husband pulled off the top box he was totally surprised to see that the bottom box was not as tall as the Santa.  When he pulled it off foam peanuts flew all over his office and especially all over his wool suit.  He called his adminstrative assistant to help and after she stopped laughing, they managed to gather up all the peanuts.  The assistant loved to tell everyone this story about her boss.

I just love him.

 He has such a kind face.

Lucy is reminding me that Fridays are supposed to be all about her.  Well, and a little bit about Ellie.

Her Royal Highness!

 When you are the Princess you can rest your head anywhere you wish.

 This is Lucy's version of silent night.

I am having my children here for the holidays.  So I will not be posting until after 2012.  So whatever you are celebrating, or even if you are not celebrating anything except the coming of another year I hope you and your family and loved ones have a wonderful week.

STAY SAFE, HUG YOUR LOVED ONES, AND LOOK FORWARD TO THE BEST NEW YEAR EVER!

Gratuitous Cards and Gifts

I can understand when circumstances preclude sending Christmas cards.  We sent none in 2009.  And I suppose it would be fine to send ecards if a person is otherwise not able to mail cards.  But this year I have received several ecards from people I know to be perfectly able to sign and address cards.  They always get caught by my spam blocker and I simply hit "silently discard."  Am I being unreasonable?  Perhaps so.  Except in rare circumstances I believe people should decide whether or not to send cards.  And if they decide to send cards they should send real cards.

I feel much the same way about gratuitous gifts.  Everyone has acquaintances with whom you have exchanged gifts.  There comes a time when the relationship has changed, either by moving away or moving on.  When that happens and the gifts are more of a burden, then it's time to stop the exchange.  One of our relatives sent us Hickory Farms packages for several years.  What's the problem with that?  We lived in Wisconsin at the time, home of some of the best and freshest cheese around.

The best Christmas gifts are those that clearly indicate that the person knows you and has selected a gift that is right for you.  So it is with one of my best friends.  When she last visited us, she thoroughly enjoyed watching my husband suddenly rise from his seat and fly out the door to attack a squirrel with his super-duper water gun.  Yes, my husband hates those beady-eyed little monsters as much as I do.

When her Christmas package arrived yesterday, she had included a perfect gift for my husband.

Perfect

Although my friend indicated that my husband need not wear it, he will.  In fact, he will wear it to Wild Birds Unlimited to pick up another "squirrel proof" bird feeder.  It gets pretty chilly running out on the deck in the midst of winter.  And of course he cannot take time to close the door or the squirrel will be gone.

When will we learn to stop exchanging gifts when it becomes a chore rather than a pleasure?  I can assure you with confidence that my friend had almost as much fun sending this gift as my husband did in receiving it.  And that is how it should be.



[Totally unrelated note:  If you are a fan of NPRs "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," or a fan of Neil Gaiman you need to turn to BBC America Friday night at 8:00 pm (EST).  The show will be televised with Neil Gaiman as the special guest.]

Christmas Collection Part Three

I may have mentioned that we have a lot of the Byers Carolers.  Fortunately we have them spread over the house so they are not overwhelming.

These are the street vendors, including Molly Malone and her kitty.  I think my favorite is the organ grinder with his little monkey holding a cup.  My dear husband made a slip of the tongue one year and called him the "monkey grinder."  In our family we remember things like that for a long time.  Perhaps it is because he seldom makes such a misstatement so we have to rely on the few he does.  Not a Christmas goes by without mention of the monkey grinder, usually more than once.

These are the villagers, including the lamplighter.  The nurse figure was the first Caroler that we had, a gift from our son.

 Once again I am posting a photograph that someone sent me and I cannot credit.  But I think it does emphasize that Christmas is a time of peace,  misinterpreted as piece.

Well dear readers, I wore my lucky Packer shirt.  My son and his wife ate tacos at halftime for the fourteenth week in a row.  But somebody dropped the ball and the Green Bay Packers lost their first game yesterday.  Actually, more than one person dropped the ball.  Unfortunately they were playing on the field and couldn't hold on to Aaron Rodgers passes that hit them in the numbers.  So, Suz, you can relax.  The shirt is in the dirty clothes.  I'm hoping that washing it will restore the good luck for the next game.