Life and Times at Cranberry Lake

This blog is about the life, wild and otherwise, in this immediate area of Northeast Pennsylvania. I hope you can join me and hopefully realize and value that common bond we share with all living things... from the insect, spider, to the birds and the bears... as well as that part of our spirit that wishes to be wild and free.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

RACCOONS WHISTLE!

Bet you didn't know that. I didn't. But thank goodness this one did.

I was walking up to the lake one evening this week with the dogs. By the time we get to the lake, Polly is always back in the woods doing her own thing... which is NOT looking forward to the lake, as I like to get her wet to cool her off, as she doesn't swim. I'm sure she could, but she's not a water spaniel, which I'm sure is in Bear's blood, as he came from a spaniel family that demonstrated their love for water when we got him as a pup.

So, as we get close to the lake, I'm looking for a good branch to throw into the water. He defeats my plans on having a bunch of branches available, as he takes them back with him one at a time when he's had enough of "Fetch the stick" after I throw it into the water for him to swim out and fetch back, and I'm always having to find another stick almost each time I go up to the lake.

He was all excited... per usual... He's excited about life. It's like everything is so exciting that you'd think it was the first time he did it, whether walking, eating, just going outdoors, and jumping at the door, like he's so eager he cannot control himself. But everything is just so great! He inspires me to notice how wonderful life is... and how even the routine things can be wonderful every single time. So this was a routine thing, but he was bursting at the seams to swim after the stick, so we bounded towards the shore of Cranberry Lake, I threw the stick, and Bear jumped into the water paddling out to get the stick.

Then I hear a low "chirp, chirp", like a low whistle, like someone quietly getting my attention without being too obvious, I turn to see who's hailing me, and it's a small adult raccoon. "OH MY GOD!!" I'm thinking ...if not saying out loud. I realize that if Bear sees this raccoon it could be a catastrophic event... and I must prevent it!!

"BEAR!! SWIM HERE!! COME OVER HERE!" I call trying to get him to change his course, which was towards where I saw the raccoon, which I won't even look at so as not to give it away... And meanwhile I'm as quickly as possible taking my ever present reel out leash off my waist to wrap around his neck as soon as he gets to shore. He comes in near enough to where the raccoon was that it would be impossible to miss it, but I'm wrapping the leash around him with serious speed, and he only picks up on my mood, not on the reason, as cooperates... "Thank God!"

As I'm pulling him along, I turn back to see where the raccoon was, and it's gone. It must have disappeared immediately, not that there was anywhere to go right near the outlet, and if Bear had seen him first, instead of concentrating as to where I was throwing the stick, who knows what would have happened.

So... Raccoons like to tip people off that they are there... or this one did. It was as if it was saying, "Hey, I don't want your dog to notice me... AND I'm sure you don't want that either!"

Smart Raccoon.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

ON SQUANDERING LIFE:

Don't get me wrong, as I think it's wonderful when people care about one another, BUT, when one worries so much about the fate of the world, the wars, the injustices, the economy, and so on to distraction, I don't think they realize that they are squandering their own life. Let's put it into a really personal close up example that I don't think EVER happens. Children really know how to live... and maybe it's because they don't listen to or watch the news like us adults, or maybe it's that their frontal lobe isn't mature enough to not selfishly love to be given wonderful gifts. They don't know that some of their wants and gifts aren't something that every child receives automatically at birthdays and Christmas. But imagine this scenario... A child's birthday, and you went out of your way to get him just the right present to really make him happy, but when he opens it he says, This is too good for me... what about those children who have nothing. I think we should give this to them, or get your money back and give it to the poor. Or worse, if he went on and on about how everything bad is happening and what a wreck this world is coming to, that he shouldn't even be enjoying something so trivial as a toy. Our blessing of their childhood innocence, is in watching the wonder and magic of their realization of what a wonderful life this is for them... but... being adult... we hear so much of the bad, we have so many more worries, we feel so for the soldiers and those others for whom they are fighting for their freedom that we think the world is all going to hell on a broomstick.

When one worries about things that may happen to the point that their life is unhappy because of it, then one is squandering one's own gift of life. I don't mean that we shouldn't do something about the oppressed and poverty... and the fastest way for someone to come out of their depressive thoughts is to help others. I don't mean that we shouldn't complain about the government, but the fastest way to feel better about your part as a citizen is to write to your representatives. You can only do so much as an individual, and that's exactly why we have representatives who serve as our voice at township, county, state and federal levels. When they aren't representing us properly, don't complain to others, write AND call them. But do get others to do the same.

When you have helped someone who seems not to care and is collecting welfare and feels that it's his (or her) right to get it, just remember that those persons are in the minority. It used to be that even those who wanted to get off the rolls, had no real choice if they had children at home and no husband(or spouse) for support, as they actually couldn't afford to work outside the home with the cost of childcare, transportation, even the clothes needed for a job. Now we have training programs with transportation and childcare provided. So let's not worry so much about those taking advantage of the system unless you have something in particular to report to the authorities.

I once nearly went crazy with worry and thought the world was going to end ...and what would I do about it. I even bought a book on "edible wild plants" thinking if everything went down the tubes I may be able to survive by living off the land. That book was new then, and now I see it was published in the early 80's. 30 years ago, and it hasn't happened. I read somewhere that over ninety percent of the things we worry about never happen.

I worried about global warming; acid rains; air pollution; effects of chemicals in foods or in the air we breathe or the water we drink. All this worrying somehow didn't do anything at all for the state of this earth and the people therein. I finally realized that if the creator was looking down on me, he would think I was squandering this wonderful gift... this wonderful life he gave me with all this worrying. I don't have to save the world, but I had better appreciate my own place in this world. If everyone felt as I once did, what would be the purpose of living... And don't think I didn't wonder that back then. But a phrase I heard came to me. It was "See the world in a grain of sand." I looked up the poem it came from:
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour."
~~ Wm. Blake

I began to do crazy things like bring back the sand in little clear glass bottles for those who couldn't get to the seashore; I started an album of all the wildflowers that bloomed in the growing season in the northeast. I would take walks to the tops of hills and look down at the landscape, realizing how small my problems were in the sight from a distance. I'd lie out under the stars and get lost in them... However, the more time one looks up from a spot with no other lights to diffuse those little beams, the more you see. Then I'd really wonder, "What IS it all about?" Probably each of those stars is bigger than our sun. I'd not want to watch the stars too long, as it just boggled my mind. All I could see so diminished me to the point where I didn't amount to a speck of dust when it comes to the Universe. Even God seemed like an impossibility. But it did me good to have myself minimized so. It made me realize that I was always a child if I could still wonder. I decided to wonder about the small things, like how something as small as a gnat could fly; how beautiful a simple bubble blown from a jar of kids bubble stuff could be. How is it that they say every snow flake is different... who as collected enough to know? Who cares? It is a wonder, not an answer. When we say something is wonderful, we just mean it makes us happy.


My walks and wonders make me happy. When something doesn't make me happy, I want to do something about it, if I deem that something can be done by me, whether to group others for a cause or write my reps' in Harrisburg or Washington DC, or the President himself. I'll recycle or compost whatever I can to avoid too much trash, economize my money, my driving, and even my own energy by thinking ahead just that much, or leave it up to a higher power. Thinking too far ahead can give you a headache. Find a belief system even if it's to find a wiser self within. Hopefully you will find a spiritual connection to the universe, and know that you are worthwhile. You haven't earned life, you have been given life--appreciate it, it doesn't last forever, and it's no one else's but yours. You can decide. And, if you want, you can squander it worrying yourself to death, but I, for one, would rather see the world in a grain of sand and eternity in an hour.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

ARGUING THE POINT:

My oldest son just left with his children, and I want to make an observation... a comparison to how I was brought up and how they are bringing up their 12 year old twin boys, and 9 year old daughter (once they have their birthdays later this month). She's getting a crash course in arguing, while basically still loving the brothers, and concerned when she wins the fight --especially if physical injury occurs. It happened, and I told my grandson, "You can't win. For one thing, she's a girl. And for another thing, she's younger."

I have brother a year older then me, and we were like fraternal twins, but we picked on my little brother unmercifully, who happened to be also 3 years younger. And, my twin grandsons, pick on their younger sib', sister unmercifully too. Being the one 'picked-on' is different than being the tease. What I saw in Anna, my grand daughter, was preparation in life so that she won't be the shy and retiring type that I once was when I set foot out into the world. Anna has already gone to school, is a leader, not a follower, and despite the age difference, several times got the upper hand in the fights they had while visiting.

I may have said before in this blog about how tough it was for me going ...just to school. It was culture shock for me, and found being in a classroom with over twenty other children a bit overwhelming. I guess that's another advantage in being in a neighborhood with other children nearby from birth on, whereas I really didn't have any friends until I went to school. My family was it. So at recess, I stayed back with the other wallflowers, while other girls my age were playing kickball, hopscotch, or complicated maneuvers with a jumprope. In the classroom I was afraid to put my hand up to answer questions because, if I didn't have the right answer, I would feel a humiliation, instead of just learning, which involves trial and error. My parents would not allow us to tease each other or to argue, and she'd settle those arguments herself with a heavy hand, as spanking was the norm back then.

With my first husband, we never fought or argued. However, there wasn't enough emotional involvement to get all that impassioned over anything. My mother and father never ran out of things to say, and sometimes they had some pretty loud arguments. But I only remember my father acting like a parent and disciplining me once. While my mother did all the parenting, and my father was the breadwinner and a good husband. But, I digress. What I'm saying here is until I married into a family who in a way enjoyed arguing, I would avoid arguing at all costs... AND, what I'm also saying here is this: When you don't learn how to argue properly, IT DOES COST, AND IT COSTS DEARLY.

It's the reason I hate being proselytized in ANY way, especially when it comes to the two no-nos of social get togethers, "Religion and Politics." If I saw a car come up the driveway and three lady strangers stepped out, I'd know that they were Jehovah Witnesses, or if two or three good looking young men walked up my driveway and I saw they were wearing dark slacks, white shirts and neckties, I knew they were Mormons. I would rather make it look like I wasn't home until they left than try to defend my own belief system.

Politics never entered the picture until it mattered to Tom, and I just couldn't deny my true self: A Democrat, whereas Tom is a right wing Republican. So, I have learned somewhat how to argue, but still can't stand doing so, so we have agreed to disagree.

In the column, Ask Amy she helps solves the personal problems in our own little world, I sometimes pick up a genius bit of understanding of why there is such a split in opinions of anything that is near and dear, as in our spirituality and in our politics. Today, July8, 2010, this woman wrote in to chastise a man's thinking in a previous letter in which she found his thinking to be offensive and antiquated. That letter must have been about womanizing and proving male superiority, and she said this PEARL OF WISDOM: "His narrated experience is a phenomenon called confirmation bias, which is selective collecting or interpreting evidence with bias."

I'll admit to my reasons for being a Democrat, and they are surely in opposition with the Republicans in general, and Bush in particular when George W. was in office. I have witnessed this process from from Republicans towards everyone who isn't in agreement in general, and Obama in particular. Now I have a name for it: "Confirmation Bias." Because, that's what they seem to do... First form an opinion that the Democrats are wrong about almost everything, then find every weapon that they can interpret evidence with bias against the Democrats and especially towards Obama.

I now realize that if I had a hockey stick like a goalie in a hockey game, and if their 'evidence' was the puck, and if I was hoping to keep them from making a goal so OUR SIDE could win by my defending my ideas, it would be impossible, as the ONLY way either side is going to know who was right and who was wrong is by HISTORY. There is just NO WAY one can argue their point against a true believer in his or her own selected with bias data. I'm not going to try, and I want them to just agree to disagree.