by jphilo | Nov 16, 2012 | Walking Down the Gravel Road
Bambi’s Disney dad was an absentee father. How do I know this? Because during my morning walks this week, more twitterpated bucks than I could shake a stick at have crossed my path. And believe me, the gleam in their beady eyes made me wish for a stick to shake at them!
But back to Bambie’s absentee big buck daddy. If Pops been around, Bambi wouldn’t have needed to ask a wise old owl to explain the meaning of twitterpated.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXBbgzQmpJw[/youtube]
As the video clearly shows, owls get twitterpated in spring. But deer get twitterpated in the fall, which Bambi would have known if his father had been around to serve as a role model for his cute little boy.
I’m neither a deer nor a member of the male gender. But during my walks, the deer in my town are making it perfectly clear that November is their twitterpation month. Like this young buck that keeps strutting across our lawn several times a day.
Or this big fella who chased the doe at the top of the page across the walking path in the park and then hid in the woods. He was torn between wanting me to take a picture of his big rack and following the does sashaying around him.
I know he really wanted to have his picture taken because he stood still until I got a good shot of the back of his rack, too.
The camera was at home the morning when a fairly young guy, with one broken antler and one intact, pranced in the park. And the camera was home this morning when 3 more bucks–one the same size as Mr-take-my-picture-while-I-act-modest, but not as battle-scared–engaged in a stare down.
Dumb bucks they may be this time of year, but maybe not as dumb as they look. After all, these twitterpated gents are smart enough to strut their stuff within city limits where hunters aren’t allowed.
So I’m predicting a bumper crop of Bambis next spring. With daddies smart enough to stay close to home and out of harm’s way. Which means it’s time to collect sticks and practice shaking them. No way do I want to be mistaken for a come-hither-look doe next November.
by jphilo | Nov 15, 2012 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
With the field crops harvested and the temperatures falling, I should have anticipated the Great Mouse Invasion of 2012. But ever the optimist, I assumed we would disarm Mickey and Minnie with our preemptive garage mouse trap maneuvers. Those efforts were a failure of epic proportions, but all was not lost since the experience led to these three mousy thoughts for Thursday.
- The good news is that, thanks to the early plethora of traps in the garage, no mice have invaded my car…yet.
- The bad news is that, with the garage full of miniscule landmines, Mickey, Minnie, the mouse with the peg leg, the one driving a pony cart, and a cast of thousands relocated to our house. They like it so much, they party all night, every night, though their ranks are thinning, thanks to our newly established trap line.
- Maybe Disney will celebrate their purchase of the Star Wars franchise with an intergalactic foray starring Micky and Minnie movie. So maybe we can capitalize the Great Mouse Invasion of 2012, live trap our cast of thousands and send them–for a hefty finders fee–to California to become stars.
What do you do when the wildlife moves in? How do you keep that from happening? Leave a comment.
Image courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net
by jphilo | Jun 7, 2012 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
Literature is the unifying element of this week’s three thoughts, which makes them sound high brow and slightly intimidating. Until a little investigation reveals three of the four literary genres are science fiction, comic strips, and fairy tales. More low brow than high brow, which makes me, and hopefully you, feel right at home.
- When we read one of Ray Bradbury’s short stories in eighth grade English class in the late 1960s, I assumed he was an old man. Or maybe already dead. So yesterday’s announcement of Bradbury’s death at age 91 shocked me. If I’ve lived 40 plus years with that misconception, how many others need to be revealed?
- As was mentioned in previous Thursday thoughts, the new biography of Catherine the Great is quite the expose on princesshood. If little girls find out what palace life is really like, sales of tiaras, pink boas, and sparkly shoes will plummet. I wonder if the talking suits in charge of the Disney fairytale princess division are considering damage control?
- The other day, when the back surgeon showed Hiram the MRI of his spine, I felt like Charlie Brown looking at the clouds with Lucy and Linus. (Linus saw a map of the Caribbean, the profile of a famous painter, and a tableau of the stoning of Stephen. Charlie Brown saw a duckie and a horsie.) The surgeon and Hiram saw bulging disks, the spinal cord, and a disk fragment near the sciatic nerve. I saw black stuff and grey stuff and white stuff.
How about you? Have you had any profound, or not so profound, literary thoughts lately? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Apr 13, 2012 | Current Events
Attention all Downton Abbey wannabes! You know who I mean.
- The career woman ashamed to admit her childhood dream was to be a princess and live in a castle when she grew up.
- The mom who saving up for mother-daughter Belle gowns from the Disney catalog.
- The hunter who secretly wishes he could wear a scarlet coat and riding britches instead of a fluorescent orange vest when deer season opens.
- The husband who dreams of a life where he can ditch his wife and spend the evening smoking cigars and drinking cognac with his posh buddies.
Yup, we’re the people who make the Masterpiece Theater creators eyes shine with dollar pound signs once we’re hooked on a show like Downton Abbey.
But it’s very, very important for us wannabes to avoid taking ourselves too seriously. Otherwise, we won’t have the emotional energy needed to remain suspended on the season two finale’s cliffhanger, worrying about what really matters. Things like:
- Will Matthew and Mary really tie the knot?
- Will Mr. Bates go to prison?
- Will Thomas quit smoking?
- Will the Dowager Countess of Grantham (aka: Maggie Smith) turn quickly and knock someone over with her hat?
- Will the wardrobe mistress ever let Edith wear a pretty dress?
Those issues weighed heavily on me until a friend and fellow wannabe sent a link to a YouTube video. Those who take themselves and Downton Abbey too seriously should be prepared to be indignant. Everybody else, be prepared to laugh at this spoof entitled Downton Arby’s.
[youtube]http://screen.yahoo.com/downton-arby-s-28723019.html[/youtube]
