Wednesday, April 29, 2009

more thoughts on a Four Season Day...

A four-season day is filled with the unexpected. It is like, when you up in the morning to to five inches of snow on the ground (April 14th 2009) and this, after you already thought spring had sprung. It's the kind of day where you are so cold that you are happy to have a fire in the wood stove, (because there is five inches of snow on the ground) but then, two hours later everything is completely different. The sun comes out and melts all the snow away and it gets so hot that you have to open all the windows and turn on the fan to cool the house down. Now, who would have thought that one up? Not me.


Just the other day, so many unexpected things came up in a matter of hours that it was humorous. One thing after another rolled into our day, things that needed our attention, phone calls, changes in driving plans. It was a lot of seemingly simple things, but as each occurred, we were almost in disbelief, as each turned the course of events for our prospective day. It was frustrating, but funny just the same.

I kinda think that day it was preparation for the events of today.

Geo's mom had surgery yesterday and she was doing fine until her blood pressure dropped and then she was put into Intensive Care. We expected uncertainty, hoping for the best through the surgery, because the truth is, you just really never know for sure, especially when someone is older and in a lot of pain already. But things were going well, as hoped for. A speedy recovery seemed was just around the corner. ICU, though seemingly only a small delay in the recovery process is still something that changes our understanding of the world.

A call in the middle of the night, a call from doctors doing procedures and wanting to do more procedures to help her in the wee hours of the morning came and our understanding of the day before us began shifting, fast. The next thing we knew, Geo had all his bags packed and he was lea-ving, on a jet plane... into an even greater unknown.

The seconds tick past. Meanwhile nothing is as it was only a moment ago. It's kinda strange...
you know, how many things we take for granted, thinking that things will always remain the same. And even when we accept that things will change and not always be the same, we think that change is simply something a person learns to manage.

A four-season day is a good thing. It teaches us, "wherefore but the grace of God go I?" It keeps a person aware of change, which is, after all, what life is about, change and growth, all taking place in different seasons...at least until you get to winter.

Winters can be harsh, but then once you make it through there is spring. And when it's winter, there is always the promise of spring, the hope of it's return, just on the horizon.

I think that is why God gave us the four seasons. I think it is why we have what I call four season days. It's so that you can look back on and remember... things will not always be the same....change is coming and it's gonna happen when you least expect it... and you need something you can hold on to, something you put your hope and faith and trust in when the world around you suddenly undergoes hat thing called CHANGE.

God is the only thing I can think of.

" Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. " Hebrews 13:8

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

It's a Zoo Around Here #1

I titled this post "It's a Zoo Around Here (Number 1) because we have a lot of animals and there is bound to be more to post as times goes by. After all, there has been much in the past that has been memorable or interesting, but it just never made written history. Things like the time Geo was carrying a squawking potbellied pig and his pants fell down, or the time Buddy went blind, or the time I became a cat mom again... or when some guys drove off with three sheep in the back of their tiny hatchback. Life with animals is interesting and certainly there is much I could write about.

This first story on this blog is a Finch Story. I have several finch stories, like the one about baby Huey. (Maybe I will tell you that one sometime.) This one is about baby Huey's mom and it's a sad sort of story... but keep reading... there is a, well ... sort of a... "happy ending" to it all.

Finch Rescue
Alerted to the ruffling of feathers, I looked over at the birds and lo and behold there was something going on. Our cat was peering in through the screened window and causing the finches to flutter. "No problem," or so I thought, "The cats are just spooking the finches." (Something they do because the cage is right by the window and they can see the finches from outside.)

When the fluttering continued, I looked over more closely and saw the finch flailing back and forth, then getting closer, I noticed it's foot was caught between two sections of the cage.
"Crazy!" I thought. "How in the world did this happen?"

I had no idea how it happened, but the poor little birds foot was caught. It was broken and stuck and preventing the bird from flying away as it was frightened by the ferocious beast that wanted to eat it! Needless to say the panicked bird was out of control. Not only that, the leg was bleeding.

I caught the flailing creature and held it so that it could not flap around with my left hand and with the right I tried to separate the parts of the cage, but it was no use. I had to call my son to help.

He arrived with a tool to wedge between the metal bars and twist them apart to free the leg, which he promptly did. The leg was in bad shape, but I did not know how to hold the bird and fix the leg at the same time. I put antiseptic on the injury and put the bird back in the cage. Meanwhile bird number two escaped. I spent a long time trying to catch the escapee and finally did, only to realize that I should quarantine the injured bird to keep it from trying to land on perches with an injured(and bleeding) leg.

After traumatizing an already traumatized finch by trying to catch it, I finally caught it and put it into a screened-in box at the bottom of the big cage. I hoped that making the bird sit in isolation would help control the bleeding and it did.

At one point I attempted to open the box to give the bird some water and it escaped into the big cage and I had to capture it again. I did get to inspect the bird up close again and see that the bleeding had subsided. Unfortunately I also saw that the leg, which was barely hanging on, would have to be amputated. I put the bird back into isolation and waited for Dr. G to arrive home from a hard day at the office.

Geo came home and gave a second opinion on the leg. It would have to go, and go it did. With a swipe of the scissors it was gone. Surprisingly, there was no blood and the finch didn't even flinch.

The one-footed finch was freed back into the large cage and greeted happily by her mate. It's obvious that she will have some adjustments to make, but I read in my finch book that finches with broken legs or amputated legs can do quite well in the wild. It is a sad prospect if you ask me, but I suspect that since she will have food and water and a finch friend too, she will do well, but then hopefully she will not get her other foot stuck!

Geo and I did watch her repeatedly visit the spot where she had caught her foot in the cage. Presumably she was looking to see if it was there ... or maybe she was just trying to figure out what on earth happened to her over the last few hours. She seems to be fine, eating and drinking, getting around as best a one footed little birdy might. I guess time will tell.

As for the happy ending.... As happy as I was that the bird did not die, that was not the happy ending... ( I happen to think the finch story is quite sad and disheartening at best. I find it quite disheartening that a seemingly healthy little bird is suddenly struck by injury and will never be the same for the rest of her life. ) that was just the not-so-bad ending. I suspect it could have been worse. The happy ending is ...

Hmmm, wait a minute..... Now as I am thinking about it , the happy ending I was thinking about at the beginning of this story is probably not a particularly happy ending in light of this being a FINCH STORY, but it was a happy ending to me.... something that lightened my spirit a little as it made me think of new life. You see, the happy ending to all of this is.... that when all this finch drama was over, I then discovered that our cat had three little kittens! (From the perspective of a finch, three more cats around might not be so great, if you know what I mean!)

I am thinking too that this could be the beginings of a whole new "Zoo Around Here" adventure. They were, after all, born on the porch in the dog bed.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

A Writing...

The mighty star disappeared and in the twinkling of an eye, ten thousand sparks of brilliant light filled the once empty sky. Colors danced as the stars sparkled like diamonds.

Each star, a magnificent giant in its own right, stood solemn and strong, yet they were not standing at all. Instead they were suspended by some strange, unknowable and unseen force. Like beacons on the seashore they radiated light. They were full of intense power and glorious glory as they radiated their light across the universe, but it was only a whisper, a whisper of sweet tiny diamond secrets pulsating "light" into the deep. It was a strange, sweet heavenly speech that they uttered and their voices haunted those who heard them toll. As magnificent, as large and as powerful as they were, burning unconsummated.both day and night, from a distance they were but specks. Stars, tiny glittering gems suspended on a black velvet, shining in the night.

Day upon a day, night upon a night, the mighty stars showered the earth with their bold proclamations. Day upon day, night upon night, as long as the magnificent stars would shine forth light, wisdom could be heard, for wisdom too, was working.

The rainbow colored threads at her feet took their turns spinning in fabulous circles as she labored, tirelessly giving her undivided attention to every detail of the work. With great precision she worked each and ever strand across the frame as if it were the only one that mattered. She was wisdom and she was weaving.

Pushing her treadle ever so softly, and with great care, she sang a love song as she worked, the melody of which was carried long and far and wide. Her bittersweet words billowed upon the breeze created by her breath. Her love song lingered.

She worked for what seemed an eternity, sweeping first one and then another skein of scarlet wool between the flaxen strands. She was devoted to her work. She was not tired, but she paused. Reflecting for a moment on the meaning of the tapestry at her hands, taking note that it was good, she resumed her weaving and her song. Her work was almost finished.

Few on Earth could see the starlight; fewer still could hear her loom, and they were too busy to hear her song. Blinded by the light of their own personal creation, captivated by the works of their own hands, few would cast even a wayward glance upon the stars, or wonder the meaning of it all.

Earth spun like a flywheel through the dead of night as wisdom filled her quill with golden thread and passed it between the warp and weft once more. Soon, the last thread would pass and night would forever pass away. It would be day forever, and the darkness would never rise again.
Selah.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Four Season Day

A four-season day is one of those days when you have leftover pizza for breakfast, Chinese noodles for lunch and a taco and and enchilada for dinner. It's a day that turns out to be quite different from what you would expect to happen in a normal day or in a particular season. when you have a four-season day, you know it because it's filled with all sorts of wild variations that you never even imagined to be possible. Have you ever had a four-season day? I find that they are good reminders, that there is to be some "spice" in this thing called life.

It’s spring where I live, and it’s been miraculous to watch with my own eyes as the world around me changed from white to green. The grass has been green for over a week now, but yesterday I woke to an unexpected five inches of snow on the ground!

Most of the city had already put away snow shovels for the season, taken the snow tires off of their cars, and were not only changing out wardrobes in anticipation of warmer weather but many are even starting to think of planting things like flowers and trees. Some places got as much as eight inches of snow on the ground, and some streets, like one we call “Big Sandy” were even closed! After all, the city’s snowplows, much like snow shovels, had already been put away for the season.

Winter had returned quite unexpectantly, and it was cold!

I was certainly happy to make my way into the living room that morning and have a fire burning in the wood stove, that my husband had made. I remember looking out the window to the wondrous whimsical whiteness that sneakily blanketed my world overnight wondering how long it would stay. Fortunately, two hours later I was looking out the same window at the green grass that made up my lawn. It even got so hot in the house that I had to let the fire die and open all the windows, to cool it down. It was a four-season day, for that evening the clouds rolled in and the gray evening had the feel of autumn. A chill was in the air, so we rekindled the fire in the stove, and let it crackle through the night.

I remember another four-season day I had a long time ago. I was about fifteen years old, walking along a busy city street and it was bright and sunny on my side of the street, while on the other side of the road it was pouring down rain. I thought for sure the cloud that loomed above me would soon shower rain on me too, but it did not. The rain stayed on the one side of the road, and the sun on the other. Thankfully the sun continued to shine on the side I was on and it kept on shining the whole time I was walking! There I was, on the edge of a storm, thinking about how it was both a rainy and a sunshine day. When at last, a rainbow filled the sky, I felt like I was having a four-season day!