Grounded For Life

"All the world's a cage." -Jeanne Phillips

It is Monday (cubed again). My body is tired, my mind is tired, but I've got to keep moving. Old age cannot creep up on me. The years may pass, but I will stay here, just ten years old, running barefoot in the wet grass and daydreaming in the fields. I am grounded for life.

Just to prove that I occasionally peek my head into the real world, I'll make brief mention that while preparing breakfast this morning I heard some of a newscast stating that Bush's approval rating has actually fallen below that of President Nixon's during the time of Watergate. No wait, let that sink in for a moment... WATERGATE!! That's powerfully shameful... The net actually states, "A Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday finds only 25% of Americans approve of the way Bush is handling the job of president; 70% disapprove." That gives us 25% idiots, and leaves 5 percent who just don't give a damn. It's not that I don't give a damn, I just don't like to argue politics, and I don't really feel like saying "I told you so." And so the state of the world continues to teeter nervously in such unbearably shaky hands.

Click To See Bush's approval rating through the years

Stress and I don't get along well, so that's why I prefer to concentrate on other things. Things I can actually do something about I guess... I do care about the current crises, and I do think about the things that are currently affecting our nation, but I just agree to disagree with alot of the people who are from my area of the country, and leave it at that. I also leave the "debating" about it to the experts like the lovely and charismatic "Palin", that is if she can stop cruelly stalking helpless animals long enough to memorize what they done tole her to say! Now go and tell everyone you know what Jackie said, and how horrific my opinion is on that! Then come see me again in 4 years for another "I told you so" when your next vote (based on all the wrong information, and political propaganda) goes horribly awry.

Hold your feet up to the sky
to help you remember "why"
while watching the clouds
just don't let it all pass you by

As I was saying, occasionally when I have time, I try to escape the putrid human condition, and meditate on more positive things, and so I set out to do just that yesterday.

My destination? The middle of the pasture at the home where I grew up, yes... Mom & Dad's. So I grabbed one of Mom's homemade quilts, a pen and pad, my camera, and headed to a spot that seemed to be calling my name. I layed the quilt down, kicked off my shoes, and made myself comfy. Yes, I was sitting in Mother Nature's lap, listening to her song. I closed my eyes, opening them just briefly to stare at the clouds overhead, or to watch the leaves blowing in the breeze. Breathing in the essence of aging grass, and fall, I flipped over and began to write a few lines.

"Grounded For Life"

Dying grass,
a cloudy day...
The sounds of birds and airplanes distant.
One of Mom's old quilts
makes my place a most comfortable one,
lying belly to belly with Earth
listening to her breath
feeling the blood coursing through her veins
I hugged a tree, yes 'hugged a tree'
I can smell the rain, not far away
So far here, from City Life
That fake daily grind,
that somehow became mine...
I pause and watch as the
last two butterflies of summer
struggle to extract
just a few more flutters
from their lovely worn little wings
hanging on, making the best they can
from what they have been given...
It's follow the leader
All of it dies,
Trees die, grass dies,
birds die, and so do we
for just a moment anyhow-
But we are all reborn
In each, our proper season...
I inhale, slowly
the air is stale.
There is nothing better than this.

And as I lay there frolicking with sadistic Nature, I heard quite a racket up the hill, even past the house. Mom's guinea fowl were chattering as if World War III had disrupted their afternoon bug-feeding-frenzy. Shortly after they began their protest, I heard Mom's voice yelling my name with a sound of panicked desperation. I wanted to feel annoyed that I must be beckoned out of my state of meditation, but something told me to listen... to respond. I couldn't understand any of Mom's words, except for "COW!!!" So, I quickly stood up, put my shoes back on, and gathered my things. I grabbed the quilt, and headed back up the pasture only to meet up with a lost, scared Hereford cow.

She was headed straight for me, and had I not ceased my little session, probably would've trampled right over me in her effort to cross the road to get back to her own field. I had no idea what to do, I could only stare as confused heffer and I locked eyes for what seemed about 5 minutes. I tried to "talk" to her, but I have forgotten the language of cows. The city has dulled my senses, and I wasn't sure if the old stand-by "Cow Call" was Politically correct anymore. I tried speaking to her in Human, but she wouldn't stoop so low as to converse with me on such a level. So I slowly just stepped, and turned as she shifted her pace to a trot, and spanned the field, crossed the road and with a big 'Bon Voyage' style "MOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!" she was gone.

As my little party was cut short, I continued on back to the house to help Mom with a few things. We unclogged the drainage pipe outside where the water-waste flows, which was quite a job, and made me feel like I had a major workout (once again, I've gone soft from the City life). I drove her to the store to pick up a few things, and I sat on the front porch and we talked for a while. We talked about her guinea fowl, and the chickens, and Marty the Cat and his eagerness to draw blood with his sharp little claws. We laughed about the Cow incident, and joked with my Father, we snacked and delighted in one another's company. There was no discussion of politics.

It's Monday again, I'm back in this City. The drivers seem to have grown even uglier over the weekend. Their approval rating continues to decline with me greatly.

So at least in my mind, I think I might go back to my little spot there in the field, and continue with what I started. Have yourself a dreamy Monday too.

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Today's Points To Ponder

"I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts." -Mark Twain

"Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together..." -Carl Zwanzig

"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is stoned to death." -Joan D. Vinge