The Hiatus

The great computer snafu has gone on for some time.  Now I have a new computer.  And more of that later.  But the blog hiatus will continue a little longer.  I expect to be back blogging by October 1st.  Except for the computer problem, however, we are all well.

Just for the Squirrels

This past week, the rain started falling and along with it the walnuts began dropping to the ground.  First day, one fat, round, green walnut; second day, two.  Then up to four.  And then none, because there were no more walnuts on the tree.  And that is not because the walnut tree is not a great bearer of fruits, because it is.  It is because the squirrels (or the squirrel, because this past year I have seen only one black one and one grey one and I think only one of them is a walnut squirrel) know that, on the day there are four walnuts on the ground, on the following day, all the walnuts on the tree are ripe.  And in the night, they come and get them all and put them in a bag of some sort, i suppose, and take them off to bury them all over the yard.  I hate that I never get to see them at this work.  But it has been the case for the past five years that the walnuts all disappear one night.

This morning, I was working in the yard a bit and decided to move some wood chips that I had been keeping in a nice pile.  I took a bucket and trowel over, and on my second trowel full of chips uncovered a beautiful walnut, nicely sequestered for a time when food was needed.  Covered it back up and went on my way.

I'm happy to leave the walnuts to the squirrels because my New Mexico daughter sends me boxes of pecans each year from her pecan tree.  But even if she didn't, I'd probably leave them to the squirrels because they know how to get them out of their green shells without permanently dyeing themselves.  Or maybe they don't, but they just don't care if their hand-like appendages turn deep brown.

The Technology Tyranny

I'm currently having some significant computer problems and, although I love my I-Pad, I don't love composing longer than about twenty word messages on it's keyboard. So, blogging will be light until I get the computer stuff better resolved.

Very Funny

Tonight we dropped in to the annual Joke Telling Contest.  It was shorter but just about the same as Prairie Home Companion's yearly Joke Show.  There are blonde jokes, and married couple jokes, Catholic jokes, and Jewish and Protestant jokes (though no Muslim jokes and no political jokes--politics: no longer funny?).  There are personal anecdotes.  There are silly jokes.  And in between, Lucy read the All Point Bulletin, which reads very humorously if approached properly (or improperly).

About 45 people showed up at the Community Center to tell a joke or (mostly) just to listen and clap and laugh.  There's an article in last week's New Yorker about 'laughing yoga,' and it felt pretty much as if we were in line with that tonight.  We laughed whether we had anything to laugh about, because laughing feels pretty good and we know how to do it and we were among friends.

Telling a joke in public is a small act of bravery (although it is surprising how many people don't know how to use a microphone--they wave it around vaguely in front of them in a way that, if it were sensitive, would produce a lot of feedback).  Thus, people did not rush up to stand in line, eager to take their turn.  Lucy, the M.C. and a previous joke telling winner, coaxed them up a bit at a time in the kindest of ways.  Some people rushed up and rushed through their jokes and got back to their seats as quickly as possible.  Some people rambled on as if we were working on getting through a long winter's night together.  One couple 'performed' their joke as a dialogue (and a wonderful job they did!).  One guy absolutely buried the punch line, leaving us applauding but not laughing as we tried to figure out what he might have said there right at the end.

It's a charming event.  I can't remember a joke five minutes after someone tells it to me, so I can't imagine ever getting up there and repeating a joke.  Although maybe if I could get one, I could write it down and then practice it long enough to remember it.  But I admire the people who do remember them and are willing to stand up and entertain the rest of us.  Next thing, we'll be playing the piano for each other.