Saturday, December 31, 2016

Sewer Raccoons around the world; Don't worry; An esteemed visitor; Gourd work; 2016 Christmas manifestations





Sewers, Raccoons, and water



http://www.jacquielawson.com/ecard/pickup?code=6628067009318&source=jl999&utm_medium=internal_email&utm_source=pickup&utm_campaign=receivercontent



^,^

As we approach the new year
and some portents thereof: 




be happy





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWXUWepSak4


and THIS!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blUSVALW_Z4#t=218.804659
If this one does not start at the very beginning
just run the time bar all the way to the left, to zero, start.

Take the time to listen to this lovely series of songs
'PLAYING FOR CHANGE'
Just let your PC run...


^,^

Hawk Mahoney

A noble warrior sort of fellow
paid an unannounced and very welcome visit
dropping in out of the kind of skies he soars

struggling to make a landing
here at The Odd Fellows without its means of entrance
- the door bell and intercom systems
do not work, much to our liking
but certainly not to other residents -

bumping into Dee luckily
in the building lobby
making her exit.

After a couple years of no contact
Hawk came bearing a gift
at Christmas time:
Brad Hawiyeh-ehi crafted
bread-warming gourd.



It has occupied a happy space
on top of our fireplace heater.

A gourd due to its nature
is an insulator
like wrapping a down vest
around yourself.

It keeps warmed bread or rolls warm longer.




Raccoon readers will remember Hawk
from this posting and others ~


http://raccoonnews.blogspot.com/2011/10/at-st-pauls-hubertus-wi.html


Friends as this Hawk I tell you from my experience
do not just fall out of trees.
They fly from skies.

Good luck to you in finding your own.


^,^

Gourd work




Morticulture

Gourd vines unfurl on the trellis
So fast now that a pulse is nearly felt
at the growth tips

Little buds that will be flowers
emerge from nothing
Up the wire mesh go the vines
a rung or two at a time

and the tendrils wave
and writhe in air
seeking purchase
Wire to bend

Finding something to grab onto
they kink up
in tight spirals
like octopus tentacles

Twelve plants started from seed
in my south window sill indoors
fragile they were and now

They have enough
collective force to produce
a bin of future horns, rattles
bowls and dippers

or to make good on a sci-fi
nightmare
and do me in
I will not turn my back on them

At night through the open
bedroom window I hear them
growing
muscling their way toward me

I could have stopped them once
but now they have
harnessed the sun
and they want to grow
all over me

I have to make a run past
this trellis in the morning
when I go to work
They might snatch an arm or pantleg

but I close the door on
the offending tentacles
and back down the drive
a struggle between an auto
engine and photosynthesis

So far the car always wins
and the tendril ends whimper
when their connexions to the mother vine
break
and come bungeeing back
at the windshield

Neighbor's pets
have begun to disappear
 The vines have a way
of beckoning innocently
like a benign cobra

You have to stare at them
and  you want
to move in for a closer look
because you are curious
aren't you?

Don't



[ãDavid Zep Dix 2001]






^,^


Christmas manifestations 2016



Dee in a shopping trip picked up a box of surprise 'crackers'.
We tugged at them on Christmas day dinner.

Erin and Ben were here.
These holiday novelties took two people to explode,
one at each end pulling vigorously.

When the cracker blew up it spread
a variety of delights:

A paper hat; an Origami figure with instructions
on how to fold; jokes, riddles, etc.

Here, Ben attempts a folding jumping frog:
























^,^


                                                                               Wm Blake



...to be continued










Friday, December 23, 2016

Dreams; As Guthrie goes, so I; The cat department; White christmas, like me



Dreams of Cloth

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
by William Butler Yeats

Listen Online


Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

"He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by William Butler Yeats


^,^

Wis exits stage Left 2016

































A toast with Slimowitz
secreted into the Avalon Cafe
in a Pellegrino bottle.
Wis was 97, his birthday that day.


















^,^

The Cat Department

Catatonic
from SRN stringer Bentz-
ie and the Jets



^,^

Roary the Appleton cat
of Erin Dix and another Bennie,
her husband:


She gives fingers a rest in the sunshine
after a romp on the keys:




PLAY:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBxRRUj1bcAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBxRRUj1bcA




^,^



Kd Cat
Roary's cousin
waits to trim the Christmas tree.

So far it just has the two new Tin Toy Arcade
trinket ornaments hanging.

1.  The tin zeppelin
2.  The red star also just in from the Arcade.

The star is reminiscent of the old Ford 150 white truck
with the red star on the doors. Roary's Mom, Erin (not her real mom)
 rode with me to Ellison Bay WI camping, when Erin was much smaller.












Stars, trucks, camping, cats -

at Christmas and always

ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED


















^,^

White Christmas





http://www.jacquielawson.com/ecard/pickup?code=6535432229318&source=jl999&utm_medium=internal_email&utm_source=pickup&utm_campaign=receivercontent





^,^

You aint no Santy Claws


















Saturday, December 17, 2016

Potatoes with their jackets on; Heeschen's tree; Trinketage; Marble machine; Cat in tree; Blue Christmas; The Messiah





POTATOES WITH THEIR JACKETS ON
from the Childcraft book set, 1939  Book One

Potatoes on the table
to eat with other things
Potatoes with their jackets off
May do for dukes and kings.

But if you wish to taste them
As nature meant you should,
Be sure to keep their jackets on
And eat them in a wood.

A little salt and pepper.
A deal of open air,
And never was a banquet
That offered nobler fare.

But if the time is winter
There's still another plan:
You simply pay a penny to
The Hot Potato Man.

The children cluster round him
To catch a ray of heat,
"All 'ot," he cries "and mealy,
And warm yer 'ands a treat!"

The best of food can weary
The best of appetite;
Potatoes with their jackets on
Are always, always right.

         [E.V. Lucas]


^,^


Desire



I gaze upon your dark eyes Your voluptuous form hidden beneath fine dusky skin How I desire the taste of you on my lips I hunger for your body, yet I must wait Fifteen minutes then ping, add cheese Oh jacket potato of mine




^,^





Bob Heeschen writes
regarding last Sat. Raccoon
12-10-16


"Are those singing turnips?  That's cute.
And KD looks like she enjoys having a hat.  The card is now hanging on my little tree next to my computer desk.  I will try to get a photo in the daylight to send over.  But not Sunday as that is another work day.  We are having Santa's Train Shop these first three weekends in December.  Today we passed 700 visitors and that kept us three cashiers very busy.  Light snow started around 3:00 and we expect around 3-5" by noon.  That may cut attendance tomorrow but around 300 would be good.  We have a great Santa and he has calmed many little kids over the years.
So the raccoons are still working underground in Waukesha.  It would be interesting to know just how many there are in the city.  Zoey likes to sniff at the catch basin where I did see one several years ago.  And for a while there was one that came to my bird feeder near the front door.  But we have had coyotes in the area and they may have eliminated the coons.  I don't see many rabbits, either.  There have been several nights when the coyotes must have been having a fight or maybe a "howl-in". as they were quite loud just across the street.  Animal control assured me that the local coyotes do not go after people but I am less inclined to go outside at night.
Well, I am tired after standing most of the day and I still have a newspaper to read, so good evening to you...
S/A  RH


Bob Heeschen "


Still working in his 80's as a RR museum docent
St. Paul MN



Our KD Xmas tree ornament
is hung on Bob's tree; he showed us.

^,^


Trinketage



A trinket shipment arrived here
at the Raccoon Headquarters yesterday.

Three new tin toy ornaments
to go on our Christmas tree
later today.

We like this sort of trinket -
right up our alley.

Yes, Lee.
Down with it
can't quit it.


^,^



Absolutely fantastic marble machine !




http://www.openculture.com/2016/03/how-the-fantastic-wintergatan-marble-machine-makes-music.html


How it works:





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uog48viZUbM


^,^





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn2h3_aH3vo




^,^

More of the down side of Xmas?





or this:







A woman dining alone at the Clarke
across the street.  Hand held with zoom


^,^

""Ye shall see a great light...
His yoke is easy and his burden is light...
A man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief..."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTMJVvld9ok
                                                                                                                                                                                                 
(Readers note: it's complete; a couple hours long)