One Hail of a Weekend!

Monsoon season ends,

with pelting by pea-sized hail-

Nature’s inspired show.

I don’t see hail often, so when I do, I can’t help but watch in awe.  The pinging of the ice pellets on our rain gutters had an almost musical effect.  The show lasted for about ten minutes and it was amazing- though I didn’t ask for an encore, because I know the damage it can cause!

A few years ago, a hailstorm hit Scottsdale.  I watched helplessly from inside my office building while my car was pelted for several minutes, leaving it dimpled like a golf ball.  But this wasn’t my first experience with hail in Arizona…

I don’t remember the exact year now (that’s what happens when you get old 🙂 ) but I figure it was probably 1989 or 1990, because I was in high school.  My parents and I watched from the sliding door as a newly-planted mesquite tree struggled in the heavy winds.  My dad went out to re-tie the stakes in hopes that it would help the tree remain upright.  Then hail came and my dad was still working on it, so I decided to help hold the tree.  Hail might be small, but it sure stings when it hits bare skin!  When the tree was tied good enough, we dashed inside, met by my mom who supported us in her own way:  she took lots of photos.

Even after being rained and hailed on, my hair still stood tall.  Ah, the wonders of White Rain hairspray…

Well, that’s enough about hail.  I’m working on a fiction story written for another of Emilio Pasquale’s photos.  I plan on posting later in the week, so I hope you’ll come back by and check it out.

Have a beautiful week!

Sigh. Wildlife, 4; Humans, 0

Made a fool again.

White flag waved (with crossed fingers)…

Ready for next round.

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Early Monday morning we discovered the wildlife had another crazy night of partying. Somehow, they are able to keep their rabblerousing down enough that we sleep through it; however it’s obvious we were the benefactors of the animal equivalent of toilet-papering a house. I have the “trashy” pictures to prove it:

At least dirty laundry wasn’t aired…

As my older son and I scooped up garbage donning very fashionable surgical gloves, neighbors slowed to stare as they drove by. One man stopped and rolled down his window.

“Ah, the javelina got ‘ya?” he asked.

I shrugged.

“This is what the javelina do,” he said with a nod.

“Well then, I guess our trash won’t go out until I hear the garbage truck.”

I should’ve known! I bet it was that javelina that gave me “the look” after her baby finally freed itself from our garden. I feared she wasn’t done with us and I was right.

Arizona Game and Fish has pretty much tied our hands, as it unlawful to injure, kill or trap them. I don’t really want to hurt them anyway, but they aren’t taking the hint that they aren’t welcome around here. Since I’m not likely to lure a pack of coyotes as pets to patrol our land, I’ll have to do more research on all the things javelina hate and start doing more of that!

Stay tuned for our next failure 🙂

(It’s hard to show confidence when our efforts thus far make Elmer Fudd look competent!)

Heart Things and October “Warning”

An apology:

Salve for injured emotions.

Repeat as needed.

I took this photo in February and I’m so excited to finally have a post I think it fits with. Even the Boy Scouts saw a heart in this stump!

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After several days of not speaking to my husband following his mother’s too-long, drama-inducing visit, he finally asked if I was upset with him.

If?!

It occurs to me that the silent treatment was probably a beautiful gift and he had to take a few days to consider whether he wanted to return it.  I suppose all decisions must be carefully weighed 😛

I find it ironic that the ones we love the most are the ones we hurt the most. These are the people that we can take for granted and not even realize that we’ve hurt them. After thinking about it, I see that when I overstep my bounds with an acquaintance, “I’m sorry,” rolls off the tongue so easily. When I disappoint a loved one, my first inclination is to defend my “rightness.”

As I write this post, I remind myself to treat loved ones like acquaintances. Tomorrow is not a given.

My last partly-fiction story was not the least bit uplifting, but when I’m mad/sad/frustrated, etc., I’m wholly all of those things and it bleeds through into my writing.

Oh!  Speaking of bleeding, do you know what day it is? Hump-day!  Well, that- and October 1^st! (I know, that’s a terrible segue, but I’m sticking with it.) I had so much fun writing extra-twisted, super-creepy stories last October that I’m ready to see if I can keep up the scary fiction for another October. I don’t really do blood and gore so much, but hope to bring on the psychological scary. Boo!

If you’re not into creepy, I’ll understand if you make yourself scared, I mean, scarce.  Okay, okay, I’ll stop now.  Have a great Wednesday!

The Flow

Ripples in circles,

actions, reactions surround.

Who creates the flow?

When I spotted these ducks in the lake on Saturday, two cliched sayings rolled through my mind.

“Like water off a duck’s back.

“Go with the flow.”

To me, both phrases appear on the surface to encourage peace.  I can’t argue that it is good practice to let things go and not hold a grudge.  Those grievances can become heavy.

At first thought, going with the flow seems to promote adjusting to what life serves up with the goal of navigating gracefully through the unexpected.  As I watched the ducks swim, I noticed they would change course- one moment swimming toward each other, then drifting away again.  It occurred to me that, like the ducks, we can create our own flow.

We’re not bound to the ripples others create.

Haiku- Wildlife, 3; Humans, 0

Our humble garden-

Fencing breached by wild piggies.

Salad dreams trampled.

Sometimes it feels like we’re being watched…

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Friday night, noises outside interrupted my blog reading. I’m pretty sure my heart missed several beats as I sat paralyzed with fear. It was late at night and everyone else was in bed, but I finally got the nerve to peek out the kitchen window to see who was on our porch.

I stared, stunned, as I counted two full-grown javelina and a baby javelina inside the fencing around our small garden in front of our patio. I woke my husband up to tell him our meager garden was going to be even paltrier by the time they finished grazing.

We stood in front of the kitchen window contemplating what to do. My husband tried cursing at them, but that wasn’t entirely effective. The two large javelina vacated the garden, leaving the baby running to and fro trying to find a way out. (I had to laugh at the “save yourself” mentality of these creatures!)

Horrified, I watched the poor thing try shoving its nose through the fencing, chewing the wire, and trampling the garden in a frantic search for an exit. I wanted to help, but I could hear the nearby snorts of the adults that didn’t run very far away. Going outside wasn’t an option.

Finally, the baby squeezed under the fencing and joined the other trespassers.   One of the larger ones approached the window and gave a long look that seemed to say, “we’ll be back.” (Only without the Arnold Schwarzenegger accent.)

Since we moved here seventeen months ago, we’ve learned that the animals really don’t care that we bought the land. We’ve tried to claim some space for our own, but so far, we’ve been outmatched (I hesitate to write “outsmarted”…. It’s a huge hit to my ego to admit that elk and javelina are smarter than us.)

Yet the facts- our lousy 0 and 3 track record – are impossible to ignore.

We need super-duper reinforced fencing!