The many dogs of my life received simple directions. Get as many groundhogs and bunnies as you'd
like. Leave birds and squirrels
alone. My current dog peacefully walks
through the mourning doves and the robin hops out of her way. However, my puppy is 1/2 Jack Russell. It's constitutionally impossible for her to
ignore a squirrel.
She's an old dog, so I've been without squirrels for a very
long time, but the squirrels are back.
Maybe they figured out my puppy is old and can't climb trees anymore. She's had 2 expensive surgeries to repair
leg ligaments from that kind of activity.
I'm glad to see the squirrels again.
I wish they'd get the groundhogs and bunnies. I've missed the days when my Dalmatians would bark at the
squirrel and the squirrels barked back.
It was a game they played. I
think the squirrels enjoyed it as much as the dogs.
My dad had it out for squirrels. He'd sit by his garden with his slingshot just waiting for an
opportunity. Maybe some behaviors are
hereditary? At some point he got out
the .22 and cleared the trees of them.
Not the kind of guy to let anything go to waste, he cleaned the
squirrels and plopped them on the kitchen counter for Mom to cook. She gave him a memorable and scathing look
and refused to touch them.
Dad wasn't deterred by Mom's attitude. He happily whistled his way through the
kitchen cupboards and banged a lot of metal things together talking about how
country people would be thrilled to eat squirrel.
A horrible smell started emanating from the kitchen after a while. It didn't get better, and actually looking
at the horribly naked, splayed bodies on a platter was stomach curdling.
The house rules were to have a minimum of 3 bites of
whatever was served. Taking tiny bites
resulted in being given more of the unwanted item until the minimum was
satisfied with penalties. I looked
around the table at my siblings and shared their horror. We even took extra servings of milkweed pods
that day in order to scare off starvation.
Dad admitted defeat.
He didn't know how to cook and didn't intend to learn. He left the squirrels alone after that, and
I was glad to see them bouncing around in the trees unmolested. They must've remembered the murder spree
though because they left his garden alone.
Dad transferred his vendetta to bunnies.
Onto a different topic, I told a friend I hate Jane Austin,
and my friend said she looooved her. Trying
to be sympathetic, maybe understand something more about my friend, self
educate, or whatever, I read a couple of Austin's books. I still hate her. Maybe I hate her slightly less, but I'm not reading her
again. As I told my friend, it feels
like interminable discussions about planning a dinner party I don't want to attend.
When I put the JA books away, I pulled out Dickens' David
Copperfield. In a way, you could say
it's a lot like JA. The depressing
roles of women in 19th century England, archaic language, etc., but I love
Dickens. He's got women running off
with their lovers, crotchety and interesting old people, nice people, villains,
gritty and painful realities -- everything you need for a good story. I'll have to check back with my friend to
see how she feels about Dickens.
After reading this, your cute illustration looks like a squirrel murder scene? Nothing left but the chalk outline?
ReplyDeleteI have a frugal friend who is an avid hunter. He says squirrel stew is a family fave - for everyone but the wife.
I haven't read Jane Austin or Dickens. I'm very uncultured that way ;)
I'm not recommending Austin or Dickens unless people are inclined that way. I'm just trying to understand Austin's allure. Don't bother to send the squirrel stew recipe either. I'm pretty sure I'll share your friend's wife's opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe allure of Jane Austen may be that if you're interested in history, and especially in women's life by the beginning of the 1800s, then Jane Austen's novels give you a good deal of first-hand information. It's the women who try to keep a position in society that she writes about, at a time when many families of the gentry were losing their positions because with emerging industrialism there was an upcoming bourgeoisie beginning to take the place of the landed gentry. If you like to read about the conflicts arising for those women at that time, then you will like JA. I don't hate her myself, but I like Dickens much better. He writes about the same kind of people, but also about those at the bottom of society and with him, it's more about how people try to live a life worth living. That makes him less dated than JA, I think. Well, I don't know why you hate JA, but I won't argue with you there.
ReplyDeleteA very excellent summary! I'm going to send this to my JA loving friend and I bet she agrees with you. (She did talk about women's roles back then.) I didn't think about the industrial bourgeoisie, but I see it now. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI don't really read many classics any more, although I have read quite a few Dickens. It's just that their world doesn't relate to me very much, although human behaviour is the same today as it has always been. Talking about eating squirrels; in Peru it's regarded a delicacy. And I have tasted there, although I have to admit it wasn't very exciting, really.
ReplyDeleteThe human behavior part is what keeps me interested in Dickens. If I'm ever in Peru I'll consider myself forewarned about eating squirrels :)
ReplyDelete