O.C.F. Caretaker's Journal O.C.F. Caretaker's JournalNo sun - no morn! No morn!
No noon
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,
November! --- Thomas Hood
Wednesday 8 November Hasta la vista, baby! http://www.toostupidtobepresident.com/
Sunday 5 November It was VegManEC Sunday once again. Bale dams held down with rebar and sandbags were the order of the day, along with some last minute hay removal. We got a special treat today when Anita and Clay from Phoenix Rising volunteered to cook a hot lunch of black beans, cornbread, and their famous cookies. I'm also still plugging away on the bridge cover project, hoping to have that done before I leave.Those never say die Ducks have done the unbelievable again, beating Wazoo in overtime. Just as a point of perspective I've suddenly realized that I'll be in Central America during the last two games of the season and I probably won't even be able to find out what happened until I get back. The National election is only two days away now. If there was even the slightest bit of doubt about it, have a look-see into Dubya's skeleton closet. Bee very afraud.
Friday 3 November With this year's neck and neck presidential horse raced so hotly contested, casual conversations rarely go for long before predictions of who will cross the finish line first begin. The messages are familiar enough by now. The Nader factor on the far left could make the difference in a campaign that is clearly being fought for at the center. But coming down the final stretch the real issues have seemingly taken a backseat to what has in effect become an enormous popularity contest. Bush's mighty struggle with the English language has ironically cast him as the everyman, the quintessentially likable good old boy. Al Gore's speech has its own set of problems: details, facts, and figures at the expense of straight talk, he may be too intelligent for his own good. Polling shows many people are far less forgiving of what they take to be Gore's condescending motherese than they are of Bush's verbal garbles. In this Hollywood worshiping, sports loving country of America, geeks are as often resented as jocks are revered. I'm afraid that may become the tale of the tape. Don't blame me though, because I already put my money on the donkey.
Thursday 2 November All Soul's Day. The Ancients believed that this was the time when souls of those who had died might enter a place of rest. Before this day they wandered around the earth as spirits, then on this one night of the year they all rose into the night sky and flew about while the long dead ancestors judged those ready to be admitted. Overlooked spirits were doomed to wander the Earth for at least another year and so quite naturally the Living tried to use their rather puny influence on these proceedings by praying, paying off debts, and giving gifts to the poor. There is an old English tradition of going from house to house, gathering ingredients for small offerings known as soul cakes that were baked for the Dead to eat on their departing journey. The soul cakes were left out on windowsills and doorsteps where the poor (presumably much hungrier than the dead spirits) traditionally got to them first. Folklore also dictated that this was an unlucky day to be wed and that all those who were were cursed with misfortune, illness, divorce, or a rather untimely death. During the Middle Ages the Catholic Church tried to switch the idea of ghosts wandering the night sky with All Saint's Day---but great gristly traditions like this one are notably hard to to kill and the so these customs continue still in the foggy rural bottoms of the Old Blighty, along with events of similar lineage such as Halloween and Day of the Dead celebrations all over the world.
Wednesday 1 November This is the eleventh month of the year but in the early Roman calendar, November was the ninth month. The name comes from novem, the Latin word for nine just as October was named for octo, the Latin word for eight. July was named for Julius Caesar and August for Augustus Caesar, and at one point the Roman Senate offered to name this month for Tiberius Caesar. He refused simply stating, "What will you do when you have thirteen emperors?" Today the Jill Heiman Vision Fund logo was finally affixed to the Saint Vincent de Paul Family Shelter van that was purchased by the Fair with the Fund a couple years ago. Somehow I was elected to this job, but rather than painting it on myself as was intended I faciltated the process through Sign Pro, which resulted in a crisper and more understated graphic that is more in keeping with the nature of the vehicle's use---or so I think anyway. I visited my poor, sick motorcycle today, still in little pieces at the shop but slowly taking steps on the road to a full recovery. Back here at the Site I am furiously working away on a removable winter covering for Jill's Crossing, which turns ten years old this upcoming Fair. Time sure does fly, I remember working on the sign for the bridge that first year.