Sweet Tweets

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Just call me Snow White

Well, the obvious joke in response to that title would be that yes, due to the extreme paleness of my skin, Snow White is not a misnomer. But, thankfully summer is on it's way, so stuff it with the jokes.

No, I am recalling that in the movie Snow White, she is a friend to all the little woodland creatures, in fact, they flock to her, little birdies resting on her outstretched arms and bunnies scampering at her feet. Well nature evidently is trying to befriend me.

Let me start by saying I love this time of year. Love the warmth of the sun, the flowers blooming, the sounds of birds trilling and singing to one another, gentle breezes and riding through old Atlanta neighborhoods with the sunroof open and the windows down.

I began the other day by stepping out onto my deck to take in the beautiful spring morning. As I was standing in silence, listening to the woods wake up, watching the dappled sunlight come through the trees and appreciating God's magnificent handy work, I stretched my arms above my head just in time for a small finch to come flying up to my bird feeder, completely unfazed by me standing two feet away. It hovered over my head for a moment, realized I was not Snow White, charmer of all woodland creatures, and flew on its merry way. I know I sound cheesy, but it was breathtaking, made me smile my great, big happy over-smile, and started my day off just right.

Now, in direct opposition with that experience, last night, as I was tending to the outdoor cats of the family who's home I'm house sitting, I came face to face with a very disgruntled raccoon. Large in stature and great in confidence, this bugger of a woodland creature did not budge when I stepped onto the deck. The half-full food bowls lay in between us. It was a show down at the O.K. Corral as far as he was concerned. He started advancing growling in that strange way that raccoons do. (The only way I know this is from the one that was trapped up in my attic and chewed its way from the cage into the drywall of my bathroom ceiling. peek-a-boo!) At that point I recall some tidbit of knowledge from a 20/20 or Primtime news special...I start clapping my hands and yelling. This is supposedly great for warding off mountain lions...or is it bears? Oh, well, not many of those around here so I guess I will be fine. Anyway, this bold little mongrel doesn't even move. Just blinks.

Great.

So I start advancing. Idiotic, yes, I know. The thing could have been rabid. Maybe it's the leftover effects of the anesthesia from the other week. Or maybe they removed part of my brain with my tonsils. Anyway, this seemed to work. Evidently a tall, blond, angry woman in snowflake pajama pants is enough to scare any creature away when they start getting close enough. I confiscated the cat bowls and relocated their dining locale. Most likely a futile effort, but one that made me feel like I had won the little skirmish decidedly. I'm sure Ricky Raccoon just waited until I went to bed then feasted like a king.

I'm definitely not his friend. What in the world was Snow White thinking?

Half of those varmints she was dancing with probably had rabies.

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