Anyone care to propose, in a thousand words or less, a plausible story to explain this picture of an errant beach ball resting right next to a beaver-gnawed tree? (Picture taken yesterday during a hike on the Kilburn Pond Loop at Pisgah State Park.)
Jul 24, 2005
Hoarded Ordinaries 
Jul 24, 2005 at 12:04 pm
Two mammals there in the emerald wood
And sorry I could not look at both
And be in one traveler, stared and stood
and looked at the beaver gnawing wood
to where he worked in the undergrowth
Then looked at the other just as fair
And having perhaps the better fun
because she threw a beach-ball full of air
But as for that, the creatures there
Both were breathing about the same
And both that morning in equal array,
On leaves no step had trodden black
Ah, I pondered the traveler of another day!
Knowing how photographers find their way
I wondered then what they would think
They shall be telling this with a sigh
Happening upon the ball and tree
Two clues remain in a wood
And they took a picture and pondered it
And that has made all the difference
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Jul 24, 2005 at 2:34 pm
Why don’t you ever comment on current affairs????? It’s like you’re oblivious to them, like the London bombings never happened, or even 9/11. As long as you get to walk you dog and teach your little classes, everything is fine…. WAKE UP!
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Jul 24, 2005 at 3:43 pm
And to think I had been about to compose my own siloquy(sp?) entitled “Ode to Beaver-Ball” ! Completely blown from my feeble brain forever and replaced with all the crap I read on CNN this morning. Gee, thanks Dan.
This is one of the few blogs not covered with all the Political/World/Crap/War coverage and results and prayers out there that actually continuously gives me the tools to get my mindset back to some form of calm reality.
Please stay sleeping, Lorianne! There’s always CNN when I need a wake-up call.
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Jul 24, 2005 at 6:17 pm
Joan, I *LOVE* it! I wouldn’t have thought to do a parody of Frost’s “Road Not Taken,” but you do a fabulous job keeping true to the original while acknowledging the zany juxtaposition of the photo. I was imagining a cartoon-like scenario, and you upped the ante with art.
“Dan,” thanks for the wake-up call: perhaps one day I will return the compliment. I don’t normally comment on current affairs because I don’t believe that’s my job. Hoarded Ordinaries has never postured itself as a political or “issues” blog, and there are so many other sites that do that sort of commentary much better than I ever could. If I acknowledged every news event that broke my heart, I’d have no time to talk about anything else. I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m sure you’ll find plenty of other sites that offer the kind of commentary you crave.
Les, I’m hoping that “Ode to Beaver-Ball” comes back to you, because I’d love to hear it. In the interim, your poem (like Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan”) has been sadly interrupted by a Person from Porlock. 🙂
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Jul 24, 2005 at 9:09 pm
Dan,
How can you reach out and just individually hurt someone for no reason? Lorianne was doing you no harm. She is not the problem with the world. Terrible things are happening all over the world all the time. How does spreading the meanness help? All most of us can do is be kind to the people we can touch. You failed to do even this. You made the world a little bit worse today because of your angry words. Be a decent human being, think about what you can do, really do, to make your own corner of the world better before you go attacking innocent people for living quietly decent lives.
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Jul 24, 2005 at 11:36 pm
Lorianne,
Here we go again just the other day Josh was telling Shane what he should post on his blog and now another one telling you what you should post. Don’t these people get that a blog is for the owner to decide what to write about? I just don’t get why these people feel the need to make demands and yet don’t offer their own site up or even a real email address. WT? Hey Dan if you don’t like what you read move along to another blog that offers just what you are looking for.
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Jul 25, 2005 at 5:55 am
hi lorianne, I think that the beach ball is on vacation, sick of all the sand, and the salt. It wanted to take a break from all the people constantly punching it, throwing it, kicking it. It decided to have a relaxing time underneath the shelter of a beaver chewed tree, getting back to basics! and i hope it had a good time of it too! we all need a change of scenery sometimes.
in regards to dan’s post, one of the reasons i love your blog so much is BECAUSE you don’t clog it up with current affairs stuff….i can get that other places. I like the escapism your descriptions and photos allow me!
hope all is well,
take care
Rach
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Jul 25, 2005 at 6:54 am
I agree with Rach, except that I would not define your blog as escapism. Everything you write about is real and here and part of life. Just not the parts the mass media ever focus on. So there is, to say the least, a balance to be redressed.
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Jul 25, 2005 at 8:30 am
Joan, Lillie, Rach, and Jean, thanks for stepping in to my defense. I think we all agree that each blogger decides her or his focus, and a long time ago I decided current events & political commentary isn’t my forte. So I’ll continue to Write What I Know, favoring my insignificant Hoarded Ordinaries over the Big News Items that everyone else is talking about. As always, if folks don’t like what they see here, there are millions of other sites to choose from: click away, click away! 🙂
(In “Dan’s” defense, he did contact me separately, using his real name & email address, so his comments aren’t entirely anonymous. I’m guessing, though, he didn’t want my Enraged Readers emailing him!) 🙂
Rach, I *love* this notion of a beach ball needing a vacation: really, it *must* be terrible being a beach ball! 🙂 Personally, I’d like to imagine Mr. Beaver playing (gently!) with vacationing beach ball, taking care not to puncture it with his big beaver teeth!
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Jul 25, 2005 at 10:44 am
The beaver was a better catch.
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Jul 25, 2005 at 6:00 pm
Heaven only knows what I expected here in the comment section (not much, to be honest!), but Joan’s poem blew me away with its sly wit and wisdom. Thanks!
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Jul 25, 2005 at 8:43 pm
*Great* comeback, Sparkling. I just wish I’d *seen* the beaver in question! 🙂
Yes, Pete…Joan certainly outdid herself, didn’t she? 🙂
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Jul 25, 2005 at 10:31 pm
I can’t say it any better than the others did, his comments were completely out of line and he probably needed to kick somebody’s cat and picked on you. Your blog is a breath of fresh air in this world, and I, like many others, love coming here for just that reason. Post what you want to, it’s what keeps us coming back Lorianne. We get all we need and then some, of current events, everywhere else. God bless you.
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Jul 26, 2005 at 4:14 pm
Jude is going to get all us animal-lovers into the fray – it is NEVER okay to kick a cat!
For Lorianne, you go girl! You (and your blog) are perfect exactly as you are.
Nancy
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Jul 26, 2005 at 8:05 pm
I was thoughtfully reading these comments when I came across the one above from ‘Jude’. My name! And it could have been me writing it too – “Your blog is a breath of fresh air in this world, and I, like many others, love coming here for just that reason. Post what you want to, it’s what keeps us coming back Lorianne. We get all we need and then some, of current events, everywhere else. God bless you.”
But lest anyone confuse this Jude with me, I hasten to say, that despite my well-known anti-cat sentiments, I would never advocate kicking an animal. Otherwise I can only concur with the other Jude’s sentiments.
Australian Jude
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Jul 27, 2005 at 8:31 am
Ah yes, sorry about that! I’m Canadian Jude! LOL! And no, it is never okay to kick a cat or any living being for that matter! It was but an expression, one who has a bad day and comes home to kick to poor cat….
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Jul 27, 2005 at 5:01 pm
Thanks, everyone, for the words of encouragement. Although I wasn’t tempted to give up doing what I do best, now I know that at least *some* folks don’t mind the flavor & “slant” of this site.
And who knew that there were so many Judes in the world! 🙂
Luckily, I’m familiar with the “kick the cat” metaphor, so I didn’t take it literally. In the version I heard, the boss gets frustrated & takes it out on an employee, then the employee goes home & takes it out on his wife. The wife takes out her frustration on their child, and the child then kicks the cat. In other words, frustration runs in a vicious circle unless someone cuts it out.
’nuff said! 🙂
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