A Country Mile

The kids had spent the night at their grandparents, so this morning the Mr. and I drove into town for a coffee.  About halfway there we both spotted a white goose sitting on a grassy embankment not far from the guard rail.  Hub turned around up the road, and I got out and went over to investigate.  I approached, and it was defintely a tame goose as opposed to wild. In the back of my head I was thinking maybe it would be friendly and it would like me, but the front of my head was envisioning past encounters with geese, usually with a rake or the like in hand for protection. 

It didn't move til I got close, and then it started honking and lowering its head, walking around a bit, nibbling at the ground while it did so.  I figured this was nervous energy as opposed to actual searching for food.  But I'm not up on my goose psychology.  Anyway, it started walking farther down the bank but turned back and gave me a big open-mouthed hiss.   I didn't have my camera on me at the time to capture this special bonding moment between us, unfortunately.

We named it Cuddles. 

I got back in the truck and texted my animal control officer friend in town.  She replied that this goose probably belonged to a lady a few roads over who had 100 or so of them, that it probably just wandered off.  I suppose that's possible, but I wonder what would make a goose wander away from such a flock (other than some peace and quiet).  I worried someone had just dropped this creature off, maybe seeing the small stream that ran through at the bottom of the bank and hoped it would be ok until somebody found it...or maybe they didn't care at all.  We went on with our morning, got our coffee, went for a little ride around town, and returned home. 

A couple hours later I had hub drop me off about 3 miles down the road so I could jog home, rather than do my usual looped route...

On my short warm-up walk, I stopped and said good morning to these two.  They came out of their barn to say good morning back, probably hoping I'd have a carrot or an apple.  Sorry guys.

Just after I started jogging, I stopped to take a picture of this fine fellow.  I'm not sure how many hundreds of times I had trotted by without noticing him over the years, but I didn't until last summer.

Apparently he was just as shocked to see me.  I fear *he* may never recover, though.

A bit farther up the road is one of my favorite barns in town.  The barn itself is nothing too special, but I just love this view of it.  It's especially breathtaking on a drizzly summer morning, when the grass is green and lush, and the red of the barn is deep.  In the summer there are sheep in the field behind it, and in the winter a flock of wild turkeys is ever present under an apple tree there.  I even once saw a young coyote prowling about the woods nearby.

At the end of my first mile I'm back at this morning's guard rail, peering over to see my friend, the ornery goose, bathing in the stream at the bottom of the bank.  I had hoped it wouldn't still be there.  But alas, it was and seemed content enough.  It tried to ignore me, but then got up after a minute and waddled about a bit, honking again.  My cell phone doesn't zoom or take especially clear pictures, but I think if you look really closely you can see Cuddles was actually blowing me kisses.

I hope it does return home, by its own doing or that someone else notices and is able to capture it.  I hope that it gets some shelter and the food that it's accustomed to.  I'm not sure how to catch a goose.  But having left my stealth helicopter and giant fine-mesh net in my other jacket, I had no choice but to wish it well and move on.  There's a nice lady that lives up the other side of the bank, and she has a big raspberry patch in the summertime.  Maybe this goose will soon be living the good life.  Who knows?

And there you have your first country mile. 

I'll leave you here and trod on a couple more...finding my own way back home.

Resolution Schmesolution OR I want to be like Dolly Parton

I do not wish to have circus freak-show-caliber breasts; but it got you here, so I hope you’ll stay for a wee spell.

I’m not a resolution maker, per se. But I’m big on improvement. If you want to call it resolution making, or goal setting, so be it. 2011 was a silent rollercoaster ride for me personally. I’ve been taking stock and have made a short list of, well…some schmesolutions – some are basic things that I want to and feel confident that I can make more time for, and some are more noble developments within myself that I’d like to see grow, with a little less manure and a lot more sunshine:

1. Blog more.
‘Nuf said.

2. Make more soup.
Not just soup, but more dishes in general. There’s nothing better than cooking on a Sunday and having two or three go-to meals in the fridge that I can heat up quick during the week. I too often find myself reluctant to give up work time to prepare a real lunch and go running to the peanut butter jar with a spoon to get me by a few more hours. As a vegan in a mostly omni family, I tend to just throw together “whatever” rather than make nice meals for myself. So, ”make more soup” = make more time for my own tummy. Yeah.

3. Run more.



The last four years I’ve done a lot of long-distance walking and considered myself a bit of a sporadic jogger as well; but when I took on the 9-week Couch-to-5K challenge in September I realized just how much of a jogger I was not. The first week consisted of running & walking in 60-second intervals for 20 minutes. I thought it would be a breeze, that I could probably skip to week 2 or 3...It whooped my ass. I couldn’t even begin to imagine running spurts of 3 minutes, 10 minutes, 30!? But I kept going, religiously, figuring if this program didn’t work, I was just genetically unfit to run. It was my last ditch effort to grow some stamina. I had two pals in town doing the C25K as well. We kept tabs after each run, building each other’s confidence, exchanging helpful tidbits…from muscle fatigue to cold nipples to frustration on the lack of time before dusk. We ran our first official 5K together on Thanksgiving day. I’m now a runner, with firmer legs and a healthier heart and lungs. I'm so proud of myself and my friends. So, schmesolution: Increase my speed and distance…perhaps a 10K in 2012? Yeah.

4. Be nice.
Love. Patience. Acceptance. Forgiveness. It sounds like weed-puffing ideology, I know. I’ve never seen “Steel Magnolias” from beginning to end (and have no plan to, honestly) but I read somewhere recently a quote from it…perhaps in another blog…where Dolly Parton’s character says something to the effect of “I’d rather walk on my own lips than say something bad about another person.” I’m the first to scoff. Phhht. How ridiculous. What a simpleton. Who’s that honestly righteous? Right?.....right?

I’ve never been a very sympathetic person. I’m a believer in making our own beds and sleeping in them. But I’ve been bombarded with notions of late, loving lofty notions, in different forms, from various sources, that are working their way into my cold cold heart.

The first heart intruders…some dear friends, a reverend at our local Unitarian Universalist church and his wife. Our daughters are best friends, their stars first aligning 11+ years ago in our childbirth class. But that's another story.
The UU church's philosophy is love and community. Not fire and brimstone vs salvation, not self loathing vs self righteousness. Just love, acceptance of all beliefs and believers, and enjoyment and wonder of all things natural in this world. Well, at least that’s my take on it so far. This was a very new concept to me, having grown up in a Pentecostal vs Atheist household. However, I dug my heels in good. No organized religion for me ever again. Bah! Until I sat in the pew this fall for the first time and found my eyes brimming with tears through the whole sweet service. How comforting, how nostalgic, how healing. I’m not a regular yet by any stretch, but I think there’s something to be said for craving church instead of feeling burdened by it.

My best friend e-mailed me one Saturday asking if I’d like to go to a concert with her the next night…her daughter was sick; her husband had to stay home. I’d listened to a couple of The Avett Brothers tunes on YouTube previously, and they sort of put me to sleep, it’s true. So, I wasn’t expecting much from the concert, but was excited to spend the evening with my besty. As it turned out, it totally rocked, and I’m now a major TAB fan. Call it hippy, folksy, what you will. But those boys are filled with a light and have a way of kick drumming it into your soul. And who knew banjos could be so damn sexy? Ahem. Moving on…

I can be a vindictive bitch. In a yikes sort of way. No, it’s true. And I let it shine a couple times this last month, to a coworker and family, and although I relished the evil mah-ah-ah-ah “take that!” moments, in the end it felt so good to reconcile. Anger and hostility take so much more energy than acceptance and forgiveness and understanding (those whacky-weed words again). But it’s true. What a load off the heart to be kind instead. I decided I needed to start thinking positive and less smarmy in my own head and heart, not just wearing it on my face. It would save me from those snarky moments to begin with.

So, I’ll try to keep Dolly’s words (that’s “words,” boys) in mind each day, as a reminder.




Happy new year. Help me grow. Fertilize me. And I will fertilize you. Be kind, to yourself and to others...and don't forget the animals. (Puff Puff...Ima needin' somethin' munchy!)