Look Beyond the Obvious and Other Thoughts

Have I told you I have a new “pet”? Well, not so much a real pet that I invited into my home, but a critter that wandered in and is making himself at home, despite the fact that I keep trying to get him to go back out the same open door he came in.

For several years I have had a hanging screen in my morning room exterior door in the summers, which allows my furry girls to go in and out at will – saving me from constantly having to go open a screen door because Shasta is a major inner and outer dog. That had been a good thing, and I had had no issues because of it. However, This year I do not have a cat, and the chipmunk population has increased. A lot. There have been instances where one of them would decide to wander in through that screen, but when I made a noise it would run back out. Obviously, one (at least I hope it’s just one) managed to get in without my noticing. Or either of my furry girls noticing. I realized this when a plum I had in my fruit bowl had little tiny bite marks in it. So I’ve been putting treats out for this critter (which I know is a chipmunk because he ran across the room I was in yesterday), because I didn’t want him to die of starvation in my house before the live trap I ordered arrived. It did arrive the other day. I set it up before I went to bed. I got up in the morning – the trap was emptied of treats, and empty of anything else. Try a slightly different tack with the treats. While I was watching TV last night, he came for dinner, and set the trap off so it’s door closed. I jumped up to see – yes! Chipmunk in trap. But then – whoops! Whether the door had not shut properly and he pushed it open or I did something to open it oh so slightly I cannot say, but when I got to the door to go out and release him, he was not in the trap.

Reloaded trap last night. He enjoyed the offerings, but opted not to stay apparently, because he was not there when I got up. He did, however, enjoy a few nibbles on a couple of pears I had out to ripen. Then I reached for the container I keep my bags of coffee pods in and discovered he thought it was worth tasting what was in those pods. Sigh. Tonight I will try a slightly different method of putting the treats in the trap. And I will hope. Sometimes all we can do is hope.

Typing a note to a friend this morning, I typed the word grey – as in the color. I usually spell it gray. Not sure why I changed, but that made me wonder what is the difference between grey and gray? I haven’t asked Google yet, thought I’d check with you first.

Speaking of asking Google – I think too many of us read something and take it to be gospel without looking beyond the obvious. Sometimes the way something is written will make my antenna go up (they don’t stay up all the time, that would be just too weird) and make me check into it before I decide to accept it. Sadly, anymore we cannot take the written word as truth just as we cannot take a picture as truth – it’s so easy to edit pictures, add or remove people or things. It’s so easy to take portions of things that have been said, and word them in a manner to make the point I wish to make, not necessarily the truth. I think we need to take the time and make the effort to research, to check further, before we make our judgments on issues. Or people. This morning on Facebook there was a photo of a young man kneeling, purportedly in front of the Statue of the Fallen Soldier, purportedly while taps were being played – which of course resulted in comments neither generous nor kind – nor allowing for any other reason for him to be kneeling other than disrespect. Maybe he was lightheaded? Maybe it was a sign of respect, as when you kneel in front of the cross or kneel in front of the queen? We don’t really know, do we? So why do we automatically assume the very worst?

I am not saying I don’t do this – I’ve begun to realize that when it is about Trump, I have become inclined to accept the worst. This came to my attention the other day when there was a post, again on Facebook, that stated that Trump did not know Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens. I immediately accepted that, not being surprised about his lack of knowledge at all – then gave it a moment’s thought and decided I should verify before I comment. Snopes.com told me that this was not true, but it also stated that over 50% of U.S. citizens did not know that Puerto Ricans were also citizens. Whether or not that is true, I cannot say. But this whole episode was a good reminder to me, and I would hope my sharing might encourage others to look “beyond the obvious”, if not always, at least some of the time. Or, at the very least, make no judgment without further investigation.

I feel that I can now say, without a doubt, that I have absolutely perfected lazy. Not that I have managed to accept completely without self-recrimination the fact that I am a master at this – I alternate between telling myself I have earned that right and telling myself that’s not a good thing to be a master of. Do I care? Sometimes. I’m not sure. Yes. No. Maybe.

I have also decided I really need to make a more concerted effort to exercise regularly, to get over the lifelong dislike of doing exercises just for the sake of doing exercises, without any real pleasure resulting. So yesterday I started trying to do some exercises that I think should help in areas that I need help. But. I have this dog. This Shasta dog. Who thinks that when I do any exercise it is surely playtime, and what I really want is for her to get in my face, jump up on me, join in the fun, demonstrate loads of pleasure and excitement. Generally make it impossible to exercise. A lot like when I try to ride my Sit n Cycle, she gets right in front of the pedals and jumps up – joining in the “fun”. Is this a message that I shouldn’t exercise, or is it a message that I should do some dog training? I’ll consider both.

Oh my. There are a lot of words here. I guess it’s time to stop. But, last thing, I want to share a set of 4-1/4″ tiles I’m working on, which eventually will be finished as a set of coasters. It was an experiment in pouring inks, then lifting inks while they were still wet – a method Kellie Chasse uses as a background for dragonflies but I thought were kind of interesting as they are.