Here's yet another picture from my little trip down Bethel Beach. Forgive the fact that it is slightly off balance. You know how I love things that are off balance. I have to. It's a way of life around here.
Yesterday was going to be an ordinary day. Drop off kids, pick up kids, think about cleaning the house, clean the house (or not and just continue thinking about it), supervise homework, pack lunches, make dinner and go to bed. The End.
I did all those ordinary things, but a couple of unexpected things occurred that made my day very extraordinary.
1. When Chesapeake Bay Son got home from school, he looked out the window and said, "The bald eagle is in our yard." Sure enough, the bald eagle that lives on our creek but who never, ever visits was sitting in our tree. I'll tell you why. That morning I had tossed out two chicken carcasses from the previous night's dinner. (Around here, it is better to go on the offensive and feed the raccoons and opossums right up front and ring the dinner bell when you do, because if you put anything resembling food in the trash, they rip it open and have themselves a party. They will not invite you either, they just make a mess and laugh as they head back to sleep, because they know Chesapeake Bay Yard Fairy will come along and clean up after them. They're so rude.)
Anyway, the eagle was eyeballing the two chicken carcasses that had been tossed around the shoreline. I managed to get several pictures of him, and I'll post those as soon as I get around to loading them up. Or down. Or whatever.
2. Next, I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business (which is Chesapeake Bay Woman-speak for "I was wasting the entire day on the internet, just like I do most days that I am not at the paying job; when I am at the paying job, minding my own business means staring at the ceiling tiles and sweating bullets because I can't access the internet), when all of a sudden the entire house shook and there was a noise that sounded like a bomb went off. Chesapeake Bay Son can vouch for the fact that the house shook. He can also die laughing as he relays the story of how his mother reacted when she thought we were being bombed by enemy forces, or how she actually went down into the garage to be sure the gasoline cans hadn't accidentally exploded. As of this moment, I still have no idea what it was, but they heard the blast as far away as Gwynn's Island.
3. Has anyone out there ever heard the old expression (read: wive's tale) that you shouldn't put a cat near a baby because it will suck its breath away? Don't worry, you're not alone. BUT how is this for weird and not-so-ordinary....I was talking with a friend and for some reason we both, simultaneously, and using almost the exact same words, spewed out that old saying. It was eerie. I haven't used--or heard--that expression in years.
So, how many of you saw a bald eagle in your back yard, experienced an earthquake and spontaneously broke into a foreign language based on wives' tales all in the same day?
It's just another day in paradise around here.
It's anything but ordinary.
12 comments:
really enjoyed this post - thanks for the smiles. do you think that loud bang was a sonic boom from an aircraft? we get those sometimes, or blasting at a mine?
not the bald eagle surely.
I think the raccoons would be cool but we do the same ting here - cant put edible things in the trash.
arent cats supposed to fall asleep on babies faces cos they are nice and warm? thats what i heard - not sure about yours..
enjoy, looking forward tomore tales from your world! :-)
Val, sonic booms are always a possibility because we are right in the line of flight for Langley Air Force Base, BUT this didn't sound like the sonic booms I've heard before. Doesn't mean it wasn't one, but it sure sounded like something on the ground going off, even an earthquake, though I've never heard one of those before...it felt as though the ground shook.
Maybe the cats fall asleep on the baby's faces right before they suck their breath away.
I can honestly tell you that none of those things happened to me yesterday. I did do some laundry, though. Does that count?
Believe it or not, there are bald eagles in SoCA, that you can see if you go up in the canyons. They used to be more prevalent years ago.
Then of course I paid big bucks to go to the wild bald eagle preserve in Alaska and saw several.
Earthquakes? Helllloooooo, I'm form So CA! But really, sonic booms are a good substitute.
My grandmother used to say the same thing about cats sucking the breathe from a baby. She also said it was the smell of milk on their breath that attracted them in the first place.
Olga the Dim
Just this morning an eagle flew overhead when I was on the porch. We don't see them often, but I LOVE when they come to visit. Perhaps I will start throwing carcasses out and see what happens:)
A.P. Hill gets all riled up from time to time, and their "maneuvers" shake our house. When we were in the building process, it was right after the 9-11 disaster. Our builder was alone on the property, and he called CB FREAKING OUT about the "booms"!!!
It's probably best that we comminicate via computer. I just KNOW that we could spew old sayings for hours. Over wine, of course:)
MPM - Laundry and an earthquake are the same thing as far as I'm concerned. Or rather, my laundry pile looks like an earthquake hit it.
GJ - That's what we were thinking...that it was the smell of milk that attracted the cat. I guess the cat must not be too close to the diaper end of the baby. I'd think that would off set any tempting milk smell.
BHE - I think the eagles are making a comeback. I see them more frequently these days. And yes, I'm here to tell ya we'd be something to listen to if we started up with the old sayings PLUS those nicknames.
Happy Friday to all.
whew...scary....are you in the habit of having earthquakes (or other sudden loud bombing noises)around there?
Looking fwd to the bald eagle pic
Annie
ps wow...fancy coming up with the same foreign language words/saying at the same time...that is weird..and a bit scary too! A portent perhaps? Of what?
Annie, I believe it is a portent of a fat cat coming in the middle of the night to suck my breath and lay on my face....actually that happens every single night with our cat Twinkie.
We have the occasional sonic boom or rifle shots from hunters, but this was different. Still don't know what it was. I did determine that it wasn't Chesapeake Bay Son's compost pit, which was on the list of possibilities of "things explodable" when we were investigating afterwards.
Is there another story about the bald eagle that you're holding back? I vaguely remember an injured bald eagle story....
-Middle Sis
Also, a few years back when I lived by myself, I woke up at about 4:30 in the morning....the earth had shaken! I couldn't believe it b/c I'm in GA. Found out the next day that it was an earthquake!
Also, cats don't suck your breath away, but that's what Nanny used to say.....
Ordinary is beautiful!
MIddle Sis - I had forgotten about THAT eagle story. A young eagle had a damaged wing and couldn't fly. He decided Chesapeake Bay Mother's yard looked like a nice place to stay and he tried to attack her geese because he was hungry. (The goose was having no part of being his lunch, and the commotion alerted CBMother.)
Anyway, she called the game warden and he came and took the eagle somewhere for rehabilitation. CB Mother loves talking to the game warden. He shares her passion for animals. I don't think he's too hard on the eyes either, but that's neither here nor there.....
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