On possums and skunks

Two poems by me, Nancy Wayman Deutsch

OPOSSUM

The possum is a surly beast
and not a thing of beauty.
Somehow it’s numbers have increased,
though Nature made it moody.


This animal is hard to love,
even by those of it’s kind.
When I spy one in my yard,
it brings a rat to mind.


Distant cousin of the kangaroo,
it also has a pouch.
It clings to oak limb overhead,
and hisses, the old grouch!


A scruffy gray with wiry coat,
long tail a naked pink.
If survival needed personality
the beast would go extinct.


It dines on bugs and other grub
a gourmand would deplore.
When Nature bestowed intellect,
poor possum she ignored.


When it’s harassed by dog or cat,
our hero plays quite dead.
It hopes to fool it’s enemies.
That’s all that’s in it’s head.


Yet often it does seem to work,
this not so clever plan.
For predators lose interest
and possum comes to life again!

SKUNK

If you see a skunk, please run away,
‘cause if you pause, he might just spray.
Then, my dear, you’ll hold your nose,
with skunky stink all over clothes!


No one will like you very well.
Your skin will have an awful smell.
You’ll have to burn each thing you wore
and scrub yourself until you’re sore.


Though skunks look cute in stripy fur,
you cannot play with him or her.
It’s fact indeed; it’s not a rumor
that skunks don’t have a sense of humor.

The Object of Chili's Affection

Behold Chili and her beloved 'Greenie'. Some dogs adopt baby animals from another species. Some dogs adopt an old sock or a squeaky toy or a stuffed animal. Not our ball obsessed Australian Cattle Dog. No sir. Chili is totally enamored of an emerald colored racket ball that apparently was in Danny's truck when he bought it back after Hurricane Charley killed his Buick.
Somehow, the ball rolled free of its hiding place after three years and Danny gave it to me to give to Chili several days ago. She hasn't let it out of her sight willingly ever since. Generally, 'Greenie' is in Chili's mouth. Barring that, it rests between her paws or in clear visual sight for instant retrieval.

The racket ball goes with Chili when she sleeps at the foot of the bed each night, stays in her mouth when she goes out to pee, and is carefully left by the front door when she goes out to walk. Now, Chili has lots of other toys: two Kongs, two super hard rubber balls, a crazy bouncy thing we call Knobby, as well as numerous bones. (She shreds and defluffs the usual soft doggie toys in a minute and a half so we don't give her those anymore.) Chili loses all her other toys under beds and sofas and outside in the yard with regularity. Out of sight, out of mind. She doesn't care what's gone as long as at least one toy is available to chew on, tease Ginny with, or retrieve. Not 'Greenie' though. You'd think the ball was her beloved puppy or something.

Well, tonight, near tragedy struck. 'Greenie' went MIA. Danny took Chili out in the yard to look for it. Alas, 'Greenie' was not found. All was not well in Chili's world! Then, Danny went to the fridge to get a cold drink. When he opened the door, Chili darted into the fridge, snatched something, and darted away. Yes, you no doubt guessed it. 'Greenie' had been in the refrigerator.

How so? I'd eaten some cold chicken leftovers from Saturday night about an hour before 'Greenie' went missing. When I put the chicken away, Chili must have dropped her ball inside the fridge while trying to get her head into the leftover pot roast she's been trying to snatch for two days. I didn't see and closed the door.

There is peace in the house again. Cold, well preserved 'Greenie' is now back in Chili's tender care none the worse for wear.

Live long and prosper.

First photos of Baby Alex

Officially announcing the arrival of Alexi Paul Khoury at eleven thirty-six on January 10, 2008.

Birth weight: seven pounds, three ounces
Length: twenty one and a half inches
eyes: blue
hair: brown
parents: Amy and Elias Khoury

Awaiting Alex

The first part of this Blog entry was written prior to answering a very special phone call thirty minutes ago. A news update follows.


Here's a picture of Amy a month or so ago when she was still mobile. This morning she went into labor. She's still in labor and she's not mobile anymore. I spent most of the day and all evening at the hospital in company with her dad, sister Laura, and son-in-law Elias.

Amy is in a new state of the art facility that only delivers babies. It looks more like an upscale airport or hotel than a hospital with an atrium design, a giant lobby with soaring glass windows that go up several stories, and a large open cafeteria and patios. What it doesn't have are waiting rooms for parents and friends on the maternity floor or a big nursery behind glass where you can see all the rows of babies in little bassinets. No anxious fathers pace in the hallways. Nothing looks or smells like a hospital. It's quiet. You have to be photographed and wear ID badges and pass through locked doors and checkpoints to get to the rooms where the mothers to be await. The bathrooms are more luxurious than mine. The rooms are private and pretty posh with leather recliner chairs for the dads and flat screen TVs with cable. Internet connections, too. The baby is actually delivered in the room instead of in surgery. Almost like being home in bed for delivery.

Amy was pretty calm all day. Obviously in pain even after the epidural but she never cried out. She did keep telling the nurse that she was in pain and the pain meds weren't helping. The nurse seemed to shrug off the statements. When the shift changed, the next nurse discovered the pump wasn't working and no pain medication had been delivered for four hours! Once the meds kicked in, all was well, except that Amy was ravenously hungry, not having eaten for nearly 24 hours.

Since this hospital doesn't really have convenience for family and friends in mind, they like to close down to visitors at ten. Only the husband or labor coach is permitted upstairs in the delivery room. (The valet parking closes too, so if you choose to huddle in an obscure corner of the lobby, you will have great difficulty getting your car to leave before nine the next morning.)

Well, by ten pm Amy wasn't having regular contractions and was only dilated six centimeters. She decided to try to get some sleep. She sent her dad and me home. Sister Laura went back upstairs to say good night and decided to stay behind awhile longer.

Here comes the update:

My phone rang at twelve-fifteen. I raced across the house to grab it, thinking that it was probably Elias signing off for the night. I was wrong. It was Amy. Tired, weak, but happy.

About forty five minutes after Amy's dad and I left, Amy dilated up to eight centimeters and the contractions began in earnest. Baby Alex made a grand entrance at 11:45 pm on Thursday January 10th. He is seven and a half pounds, twenty one inches, dark haired and blue eyed.

Now that its over, Amy sounded as if it was as if was easy.

Congratulations to the new parents and Alexi Paul Khoury.

God bless us every one.

On this day in history and other things

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I got tired of watching CNN's New Hampshire Primary coverage and found these two images on AOL's weird news UPI site. I like to consider myself a writer. I can do a thousand words on each picture easy. But I'll keep it shorter. The first is from Korea and shows cats that actually glow in the dark. More mad scientist genetic tinkering that has questionable moral and limited practical use.

Now if you grow tired of buying batteries for your flashlights or broke your favorite night light by knocking it out of the outlet when you threw the ball for the thousandth time in five minutes for your Australian Cattle Dog, maybe getting yourself a glow in the dark feline would be okay. But, then you'd have to carry the darn cat with you everywhere you went in the dark. Useful during power outages maybe. Inconvenient otherwise. Imagine if you got mice or rats in the house. Poor cat couldn't exactly sneak up on the rodents in the dark. Course, a glow in the dark cat might come in handy if The Mummy breaks in. You could see him with the lights off before he grabs you. Just be sure you have the white cat in your arms though. Old bandage boy is afraid of white cats. Dunno why. Just written into the script that way I guess.

The second picture is from Poland and shows a bunch of Santa Clauses (St Nicholases) in front of an upside down house. Do you suppose little Stanislaus Stopinski asked for a new house for Christmas? Maybe it rolled off an overloaded sled and landed upside down. How many Santas does it take to turn an upside down alpine house right side up? I dunno, do you?

Okay, now for some quasi serious stuff. On this day in history:
1794: President George Washington okayed adding two stars and two stripes to our flag in honor of Vermont and Kentucky joining the Union.
A bunch of people died, among them American composer Stephen Foster at age 37 (1864), Irish writer James Joyce at age 58, and American Vice President Hubert Humphrey at age 66.
A bunch of celebrities were born, among them movie heartthrob Orlando Bloom (31), Julia Louis Dreyfus of Seinfeld fame (47), and hunky Patrick Dempsey (42) of Gray's Anatomy.
The Off Broadway hit musical play, The Fantasticks, closed after an original run of 42 years and 17,162 performances.

On the subject of the elections and primaries: I get the people's and politico's concerns regarding the dismal state of the American economy, the war in Iraq, taxes, global warming, affordable energy, and health care. If I were President, I'd work to eliminate income taxes and institute a fair tax, end our military presence in Iraq, fix all the house foreclosures and unfair banking and credit practices, institute affordable universal health care, and find alternative energy sources to oil. With luck, a hundred years in office, and good folks working for me, I might actually achieve those things.

But, what I really don't get is the issue of illegal aliens. What are people so afraid of?

Okay, maybe we should 'fix' the so called broken borders, although I hate to see a Great Wall of China scenario across the Southwest. Admittedly, we have to try to keep the Islamic terrorists and drug guys out. But, why not let in all Mexican immigrants without criminal records who want to move here in the gates? Issue them temporary work visas and ID cards. They come here, as our ancestors did, because they want a better life for themselves and their children. They'd rather come in openly than sneak in-- if they only could.

Why don't we abolish quotas? Just a suggestion...like in the good old days when my folks came in from Scotland, England and Germany. We could actually become the land of the free again. Let's say we let our guest workers apply for citizenship after a year-- or go home. If they work, study English, and pay taxes and are able to pass the written citizenship test then they can be legal Americans after a predetermined' good faith' time. If they serve in our military they get fast tracked. Anyone already here illegally who wants to stay pays a fine and works for citizenship. Call that amnesty, I don't care. Anyone born here is an American no matter what status the parents had.

From listening to the media and politicians, I gather my views regarding Mexico are in the minority. I am liberal about that, but I admit to some current prejudice regarding Muslims in general. The militant middle eastern Jihadists have me nervous about having Muslim neighbors. Sad but true. Seems like, unlike our Catholic Mexican neighbors to the south, the Muslims seek world political and religious domination. The Mexicans just want a better life. Want to be part of our country, not destroy it. Seems like the Muslims are saying, "Don't agree with Mohammed and we put you to the sword." Women in particular seem to be particularly detested in Muslim culture. Judging by the way they're treated as second class citizens, dominated by men at every turn. I wish personally knew some free thinking kindly Muslims that would help me change my way of thinking, but I don't. So, for now, in that respect at least, I remain unenlightened.

Yes, I think we should get out of their countries. They don't welcome our kind of democracy. We should leave them alone. They should leave us alone too, though. Separate but equal. No war. Everybody playing well together. On that note, I'm glad I'm not President. I dunno why Hillary and Barak and Mitt and Mike and John one and two want it. Crappy job, that. Running countries.

Live long and prosper.

Stuff

Greetings bloggers. Here's Ginny all bundled up in one of my office chairs. She hates being cold. A true snugglehund.

One week of the new year is over. 51 to go. So far, I've kept my only 2008 resolution: I have increased my physical exercise. I worked out once and did Yoga three times last week and did 45 minutes of Yoga today. All in addition to our daily one hour walks. Alas, I'm still covered with excess flesh. Oh, well, 51 weeks to go. Weight can be lost. Muscles can be regained. Exercise just has to become a habit again.

Danny and I reluctantly took down the big Christmas tree today, I straightened the garage as much as possible, and we put the tree and ornaments away. That makes it official: Christmas 2007 is totally over. It was a good one.

2007 was not such a great year though for me between the frustrating and discouraging first seven months spent fruitlessly trying and hoping to sell the house and my mother's sudden death in May.

In fact, 2007 wasn't such a good year for most folks. I can sum it up in a few words. Global Warming causing dangerous weather, Iraq, national Real Estate meltdown, foreclosures, high price of oil, insurance debacle, debates over illegal immigration, credit card debt... and the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room that nobody wants to admit they see but we all know is lurking in the corner... recession. Maybe the upcoming election will make things better in the USA in the near future. Maybe not. I agree with Barak Obama though, that it is time for change. I agree with Ron Paul that it has to be the right sort of change. The sort of change that makes things better not worse. Here's hoping.

My two personal high points of 2007 were finishing and publishing my book and awaiting the upcoming birth of my grandson, Alex. Alex, for those of you who want to know, is scheduled to make his first public appearance on or about January 10th. That's two more days. Soon, I will be 'Nan Nan'.

Tonight I made a pot roast. It was tasty too. I rarely cook anything much more involved than a stir fry or baked chicken breast with salad anymore, but the checker at Publix accidentally put a big chuck roast in my bag the week before Christmas. So, when life gives you meat, you make pot roast, right? Anyway, Nan Nans should make pot roasts. And cookies and cakes. It's a rule someplace. Mine made turkey and home made ice cream, but its the same concept. Comfort food.

I tried to start the new year out responsibly last week. I called my mother's lawyer to check on the estate settlement progress. I packed up some more stuff at her house. I called the handyman regarding finishing the repairs there. I called the insurance lady about setting up my HSA account. I contacted the financial advisor with a whole list of questions. Nobody was in their office last week. I left messages. Thus far, nobody has returned my calls. 2008 is starting out just like 2007. In frustration. Insert rueful laugh here.

Live long and prosper.

holiday wrap up

Happy New Year y'all.

We finished 2007 with a New Year's Eve party at a friend's house followed by a weird dog walk with Ginny and Chili through our neighborhood. I say weird walk because neighbors were firing the sort of sky-borne exploding fireworks you usually see at city 4th of July venues. The 'show' was complete with smoke, loud noises, and bottle rockets. As we turned the corner on our own street, a bottle rocket misfired from the other end of the street and came whizzing along the ground like a flaming guided missile straight at us. Ginny ducked for cover between Danny's legs but Chili lunged forward to happily tackle it. Australian Cattle Dogs (think Mel Gibson's break through movie The Road Warrior) don't fear much of anything at all. I could just imagine our own little Crocodile Chili say, "By Crikey, that's not a bottle rocket!" Fortunately, the thing didn't hit us and Chili didn't rip into it. The whole walk felt and sounded sort of like a bad night in downtown Baghdad though. Fortunately, knowing people would be noisy we didn't take Abby out walking. She's terrified of fireworks from puppy hood incidents.

New Years Day, we ended our holiday by spending the afternoon at Universal Studios where we watched some of the Macy's parade, rode the Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster and the Men In Black Space Aliens ride, previewed the new Disaster! ride, and spent some more quality time with the Terminator at his show. The Disaster venue features some dandy holographic type special effects with Christopher Walken but needs some more work on the actual ride sequence in the subway. We explored Woody Woodpecker and Curious George's kiddie park where we would have played if the darn kiddies weren't there. Universal was pretty crowded, but the day was a nice end to the holidays.

About an hour after we returned home, it got gall dang cold! It stayed nippy all day today as well. It's now about 40 degrees out with a pretty nifty arctic wind. Brrr.

Tonight, after watching the movie, The Kingdom on DVD we bundled up, put the dogs (faux) sheepskin lined car coats on them and walked. I wore exercise stretch pants under my fleece pants, a sweater, a hooded sweatshirt, a vest, my ski type jacket , a hat, and ski gloves! You'd think I was preparing for a jaunt to the North Pole or something. That's what comes of living three decades in generally warm Florida...I can't handle cold anymore.

Tomorrow, back to the real world of settling estates, taxes, house updates and house selling, and trying to figure out insurance crap. Ugh. Can't we have Christmas again?

Live long and prosper.