Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Freedom And Choices


That's what the sky looked like about an hour ago. Pink fingers stretching up from the gold of the setting sun over the trees. Some nights it takes my breath away. You expect a beautiful sunset over the water but I genuinely appreciate it when I see it from my back yard.

I spent all day in town almost. The dentist appointment went fine although it makes me crazy, just getting my teeth cleaned. I find myself clenching my hands together over my belly and I talk myself into relaxing and then the next thing I know, I'm clenching again until I'm sure my knuckles are blanched. But the dentist proclaimed my implant place as looking very healthy, very good, and all is well and by the end of this month I'll have a tooth in that place again. How strange that will seem! I will be able to crunch almonds again on that side of my mouth. I sure as hell hope the pleasure of that will be worth the money, time, energy, worry and dental visits it has taken to get to that point.

Hank and I went to late lunch and afterwards, on my way to the branch library, I stopped at another furniture store. Again, no luck. I was going to go to the big library but Prick Scott got re-inaugurated today. Hank's Facebook post this morning said, "The fuck is all that shooting?" Cannons. There were also planes and god knows what all and I wanted to avoid that bullshit so I stuck to the east side of town although part of me wishes I had gone downtown to witness some of the many marriages that took place in Tallahassee today.
I tell you. I just think about it and I cry.
There's so much more to this than even the monumental step towards equal rights under the law. I was thinking about this today. How there are some heterosexual couples who have been together for decades and have chosen never to marry which is fine by me but they joke that they are "living in sin." That's their choice but being man/woman they could change their minds and go ahead and get that little piece of paper to be able to claim the legal rights that the piece of paper bestows.
Gay couples in Florida, until today, could not. They had no choice but to "live in sin."
Yeah. Just words. But words are powerful. They reflect and direct our thoughts and opinions.
I swear to you, this is like a barrier that's been busted wide open. A wall that's come down. There are many more that will have to crumble but a huge one in Florida just did.

But I have to say that I'll bet there are plenty of folks who are doing a bit of trembling in their boots.
"Oh god. Now it's legal. He's going to want me to marry him!"
Ah-yah. With the blessings come the problems.
Well, that's life and the blessings in this case far outweigh the problems.

So I went to the branch library and then I went to Publix and then I came home and washed dishes and started laundry and collected eggs and both ducks had laid in the hen house which makes me so happy. Mr. Moon got home from auction, literally ran into the house and grabbed the sandwich I'd made for him and took off for an FSU basketball game.

Guess what I'm eating for supper?
A chicken pot pie.
Yes. Yes I am.

Today's calorie count will probably reach into the millions.
Hey! I took a walk!

And tonight I did something tonight I've been wanting to do which is to take Miss Camellia from where she was sleeping in the pump house and place her in a nest in the hen house. Chickens, for those of you who do not know, are in a virtual coma when it gets dark and they have gone to roost. She startled when I gently touched her but when I hugged her to me she settled down immediately and so she is sleeping with all of the rest of the birds tonight except for Miss Dovie and I have no idea where she sleeps. Probably up in a tree. Which worries me.
Here's another picture I took today.



That beautiful, powerful, predatory hawk let me get right up next to her or him to take a picture. She/he is all fluffed up in this chilly weather and is not afraid of much.

Once again- there's only so much I can do. Some of my chickens want to get out of the yard and cross to greener pastures in the yards across the street and I can shut the gate but they can still get out. If they get run over I'm going to feel terrible but short of keeping them cooped up (quite literally) there's not one damn thing I can do about it. And I can't stand to keep them cooped up. What would be the point of that? I don't keep chickens for their eggs or meat although I do love their eggs. I keep them because their travels and adventures in the yard delight me and amuse me and I love knowing that they are eating bugs and green roots and shoots and napping under the Nandina and Pyracantha.
Root hog or die, as they say around here.
If you're of a wandering tendency and get run over, well, that's the way it is. Until one of my neighbors complains about chicken shit in their yard.
I'll deal with that when it happens.

Until then, let's all be free.

Sleep well under this just-past-a-full moon.

I plan on it and just hope like hell that my dreams are not filled with problems and panics.
Or yours either.

Love...Ms. Moon


15 comments:

  1. Thank you for the hawk photo! It's National Bird Day! I guess every day at your house is National Bird Day.

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  2. I cannot believe how close you got to that hawk! How wonderful. They are the fiercest. I love them.

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  3. My cousin and her partner, after being together over 25 years, can finally get married! And though I'm from Illinois (the state where our governors serve two terms...one in office and one in prison), we're wintering in Florida, and I'll get to go to the wedding! YAY!!!

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  4. Equal rights. Equal Rights! EQUAL RIGHTS!!
    Even for hawks, I suppose. God, nature's wisdom is harsh sometimes.

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  5. I can't think of a much better feeling than having a dental appointment over with.

    Well, yes, I can, but it's still a pretty good feeling :)

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  6. That hawk just sitting there is INCREDIBLE! And ominous, I'm sure -- given the quiet domesticity that is your chicken yard!

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  7. Scary, fluffy hawk! So huge. Occasionally, a falcon comes to my bird filled lane. It caught a pigeon, and I was fasincated, watching it stand on it and peck at it, til I realised it was still alive. Bleurg. Then something startled it, and it took off down the lane carrying its prey. It was just like a ... a nature program, pathetic as that sounds.

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  8. Oh dear, I have a dentist appt today, I wish it was over. Hawk is beautiful and scary. I did not know that chickens were like that after going to roost. I don't think it would do me much good, the wild chicken roosts really high up in the neighbors tree. Gail

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  9. I was just talking with a friend today about how the gay marriage changes have both positive and negative aspects. I'm sure there ARE some people quaking in their boots!

    I think it's great that you let your chickens wander the yard. Don't you think if they had the ability (and intellect) to make a choice, they'd choose a briefer, more free life over a long life in a coop?

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  10. Lisa- Yep. Every day is Bird Day around here.

    Ms. Vesuvius- I love them and hate them. I surely did hate the one that stole one of my hens' baby. That was heartbreaking.

    Catrina- Yay! Indeed! Congratulations the family!

    Denise- You are so right.

    Jenny o- I know exactly what you mean.

    Angella- True. A lot of life going on here all the time.

    Elizabeth- One used to come and sit on the clothesline support to watch the chickens every night as they got ready for bed. Freaked me out.

    Jo- No. I know what you mean. And you're right.

    Gail- I think that's probably what Miss Dovie does.
    May your appointment go easily and well.

    Steve Reed- I think you're right on both counts.

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  11. I could do a whole rant on that 'living in sin' thing, about how the dominant religion here has put a stranglehold on how people who love each other can and cannot be together or if how they are being together is good or sinful. who gave them the right to claim that an 'unmarried' couple is living in sin? people are 'married' when they decide to live together and be a unit. that whole ceremony thing is totally after the fact and means nothing. this is a perfect example of why I think religion is bad.

    great shot of the hawk. I have to stand quietly hidden and use the zoom on my camera to get their picture.

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  12. Dear Ms. Moon,
    Arizona passed the very same law right as Jack was born and I loved that I could write that down in his baby book. Your day seems so peaceful. Minus the dentist which reminds me that I owe mind about $400 which I can't pay yet because unpaid maternity leave. I'll give them their damn money.
    I'm glad you and your family and chickens are well.
    xoxo
    Rachel

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  13. I also bet the Cubans in south Florida are fired up. I am all for opening up Cuba as long as the US doesn't go in and mess it up with fast food joints and other garbage that we tend to generate. Raul Castro should take care of that though.

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  14. I love how you always talk to us, in some really close way. Asking a question or just wishing us a good day. Your writing is so generous in so many ways, you know. You have helped me feel less lonely for years. Thank you.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.