Hurricane Candlelight Shower
I took my first shower by candlelight after Hurricane Ike unplugged ever last electrical wonder in Marshall, Texas. I Like Ike. And furthermore, I slept with an open window and heard the tree frogs and crickets. And I could hear the Kansas City Southern blowing his horn from Scottsville, about 8 miles away. Shazam. Not only that, we cooked rescued steaks on a grill in the garden, made toast over coals, baked potatoes in the chiminea fueled by pine limbs downed by Ike. What a guy. Rough life, no electriclty. Then Monday morning we packed up and headed for a little house on the prairie where Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by real Indians in 1873, at Old Fort Parker, just south of Mexia, north of Groesbeck. Stopped in Groesbeck Brookshires, got green grapes, Wheat Thins, Little Debbie Brownies, milk and juice... ready for tomorrow. We’ll hear coyotes tonight waling for poor Cynthia, dying of a broken heart, “rescued” and with her white folk. We got online at Subway and checked our ebay and email and the Dallas Cowboy score. We’ve sold a Singer Zig Zag attachment and pinking tool, a Stanley Thermos, a pistol & rifle bullet reloader,
an Esterbrook pen nib, a Farberware rotisserie motor... all very strange. And Dallas is ahead by 1 point. Down every highway people are picking up limbs and sawing up trees. The most common sight was a person standing frozen, hands hanging down by their side, staring a giant tree laid out in their front yard. They’re not thinking about ebay or the Cowboys or Cynthia Ann. They’re wondering who will cut up this giant oak and haul it away, and what will it cost. Maybe they could give it to them for firewood. I don’t think there’s going to be a shortage of firewood in east Texas this year.
Ike was followed by a wonderful cool front that made air conditioners obsolete. However, my neighbor cranked up a generator you could hear for a mile so he could watch TV. We were sitting on the patio under a full mooon, enjoying the fire in the chimnea, the sounds of the night critters and his sissy generator. Meanwhile, the Weather Channel was hoping for another hurricane to keep viewers watching updates while Geico, Toyota, the Democrats and Republicans, Ritz Crackers and Fruit Loops tried to sell their insurance, cars, promises, crackers and little colored Cheerios to 25 million viewers. “Hurriane Ike, brought you by Poulan Chain Saws and The Committe to Elect Barak McCain. Or how about “Poulan for Palin” ? I like it. Poulan For Palin.
Another big moon tonight. And when we get back home, we’ll rescue the blackberries we picked last May that are now thawing in the unelectrified freezer and have a berry cobbler before Thanksgiving. We picked 8 pounds of wild blackberries in 30 minutes in front of the bowling alley. And we didn’t get kidnapped by Indians. I think these berries used to belong to the Indians but some explorer showed up in 1592 and planted a flag on the gulf coast 300 miles away and declared these berries and everthang else in sight belonged to his queen. Shazam. The poor old Caddo Indians never knew what happened. They lost everything to a lost soul who wasn’t even a Notary Public. If one of the Indians had thought of putting up some”No Overnight Camping“ signs along the coast lines, things might have turned out differently. Ain’t that right, Cynthia Ann? Or some young braves could have paddled over the big waters and stuck their spear in Spain and declared that all of this land now belonged to Cheif Little Blue Duck. What about that Miss Queen Isabella? Anyway, we holed up in this restored cottage at Fort Parker, ebaying, Subwaying and watching an old movie on our Apple computer.
s. Thank you, Ike. I like Ike
