Cruel Summer

I'm not talking about the serious events that pervade our newspapers and newscasts, but the heat that the state of Texas has been dealing with. My mother-in-law warned me that summers in this part of the state can been scorching, and she's right. We may be a mere 80 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, but that tropical sun beats down hard here. Add the occasional days of high humidity and it's downright miserable. We've had very little rain over the past few months, so the ground is dry, the grass is going brown and brittle, and I don't see kids playing outside like I would expect. Even my next door neighbor has been keeping his 4-year old son inside despite their little above-ground swimming pool and shade trees. It is just too hot to do much of anything except sit and drink plenty of ice water.

This afternoon, I was thinking of the song, "Cruel Summer," by Bananarama. I decided it was time to do a little cleaning inside the family minivan. I cleaned out our vehicle under a 92F sky with full sun. The heat index was 97F. Needless to say, I definitely worked up a sweat. I wanted to get this done now so that I wouldn't have it taking up some precious down-time tonight. My mother-in-law will be picking up my son in a few hours to keep him for an overnight stay. I get a mommy's night off! I don't get my boy back until tomorrow afternoon. I fully plan on taking care of some decorating in the master bedroom, taking a shower after being out in the heat, and lounging around till tomorrow morning, when I must sing for church choir. The movie of choice is "Pretty Woman," and I have California Pizza Kitchen's Mediterranean Pizza on the menu. I rarely get nights off, so this is to be savored!

Getting with the program

In my attempt at creating some sort of entry for tonight, I wanted to include a video clip of the song, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" due to my lack of any meaningful ideas to write about (my life can be rather unexciting). Unfortunately, my computer skills leave something to be desired in this technologically advanced world. My husband is a whiz at computer programming and can walk a person through computer problems by phone and without a computer in front of him; he's been blessed with a photographic memory to some extent. However, as he is on the road, I'm on my own.

The challenges that I face when doing stuff like this makes me wonder what direction this society is really taking. It seems to me that we have become overly dependent on modern technology, relying on mediums such as email, YouTube, and MySpace for more instantaneous communication. The art of letter-writing has largely become a thing of the past. I admit that I'm guilty of preferring email to an old-fashioned letter to communicate with friends and family. I'm more impatient with the pace of "snail mail." Society as a whole is more impatient than it used to be, feeling the need for instant gratification over stopping to smell the roses. I find it hard to slow down sometimes, and I know that there are others who are completely addicted to life in the fast lane. While it would be good to become more adept at the ins and outs of computer programming, it is also good to keep the old ways alive and write a few letters now and then.

My favorite things

Back in the 60's, Julie Andrews regaled us with her favorite things, but everyone is different and personal tastes change with the passing of time. When we make lists of this kind, what do our choices say about us? I would imagine that each person's list would give the reader a window into the author's heart and soul. If this is true, I wonder what my own list would say about me. Here's what I've conjured up from the recesses of my (sometimes) warped mind in no particular order:

Soft, steady rain that lasts all day when I have nothing pressing to do and can remain home to sit in silence as I listen to the rain pitter-patter on the roof.

The unbroken layer of snow that sparkles under a winter sun on a crisp, clear winter day in the country.

My son sleeping in my arms.

Chocolate.

Nighttime thunderstorms.

The smell of :
fresh bread from the oven on a cold day.
fresh-brewed coffee in the morning.
cookies baking in the oven.
wood logs burning in the fireplace.
freshly mown grass on a summer day.
roses.
sandalwood.
honeysuckle.
lilacs.
cedar.
pines in the forest.
the ocean.
clean clothes that have dried on a clothesline under the summer sun.

Eating berries fresh off the bushes and vines on a warm day.

Windy and chilly autumn days.

Christmas and Christmas music (especially "O Holy Night").

Snuggling under a thick layer of blankets on a cold, winter night.

The sound of the wind as it blows through the trees, making the leaves rustle.

The sight of storm clouds heading in my direction, signaling a coming storm for me to savor.

Freshly-washed quilts and towels that have just been taken out of the dryer.

The sounds of harp, flute, violin, and tin whistle.

The sight and smell of books in a bookstore or library.

Double rainbows.

Rollercoasters.

Cashews.

The sight of an eagle soaring in the sky.

The sounds of songbirds in the wee morning hours.

Marching band.

Plays.

Sunrise and sunset.

Old family photographs.

The sounds of children's laughter.

Babies.

My family and friends - no matter how frustrating they can be.

I'm sure I could make this list go on for a mile, but I'll stop here. What are your favorite things? What do you appreciate in your life?

Got bats?

Little browns are the most common bats in North America. They have adapted
to humans moving into the landscape by using certain manmade structures to
roost

As I was driving this afternoon, I found myself behind a pickup truck that represented a local pest control business. On the tailgate, I saw the question, "Got Bats?" This reminded me not only of my past experiences with these gentle creatures, but also the fact that Texas boasts one of the largest bat colonies in the world (if not the largest).

Bracken Cave is located in San Antonio, TX and is considered to house the largest colony of Mexican free-tail bats in the world. It is estimated that 20 million bats reside in this cave, making this group the largest concentration of mammals in the world. While this cave is protected and owned by Bat Conservation International, you can still enjoy watching the Mexican free-tails take flight at dusk at the Congress Avenue bridge. This bridge boasts the largest population of urban bats in the world. I have yet to travel to San Antonio to watch these creatures, but it is certainly on my to-do list.

When I was living in Columbus, I used to live in a house that apparently had some sort of entry point for some bats to make a nightly visit. Thankfully, I didn't have a colony roosting in the attic, but I did have several encounters with lone bats who somehow found themselves in the living sections of the house only to have trouble finding their way out. As a result, I provided some assistance, putting me up-close and personal with our winged cousins. I learned a lot about bats in the process:

Bats belong to a very unique animal group called "Chiroptera," which means "hand-wing," and are grouped with primates and lemurs in a grand order called "Archonta."

Most bats can see as well as humans. Fruit bats are well-suited to seeing in low-light and they see in color.

Insect-eating bats are equipped with a built-in sonar system that allows them to navigate at break-neck speed through total darkness. Their unique echolocation ability is literally thousands of times more efficient than any similar system built by humans.

Bats are not ugly or dirty. With the exception to a few species, bats are generally very cute. Like cats, bats spend a lot of time grooming themselves.

There are over 1100 species of bats and of those species, only 3 are vampire bats, which are mostly limited to Latin America. The remaining species feed on insects, fruit, nectar, and pollen.

Insect-eating bats can consume billions of tons of insects each summer, thereby protecting our crops and keeping costs down at market.

Fruit bats bring us over 450 commercial products and 80 medicines through pollination and seed dispersal. Over 95% of rainforest regrowth comes from seeds that have been spread by fruit bats.

Bats don't "carry" rabies, but they can catch it just like any other mammal. In fact, less than one half of one percent of bats actually contract rabies. Annually, more people die from contact with household pets than have died from contact with bats in all recorded history.

Bats are shy, gentle, and intelligent.

They are among the slowest reproducing animals on earth, birthing only one live young per year.

A mother bat nurses her young from a pair of pectoral breasts.

The average life span of a bat is 25-40 years.

Bat populations are declining. Half the bats in the US are listed as rare, threatened or endangered.

The health of a bat colony can indicate the health of the surrounding environment. Like frogs, they are considered an indicator species.

A nursing little brown bat mother can eat more than her body weight nightly (up to 4,500 insects).

A mother Mexican Free-tailed Bat can produce more than five times as much milk as an average Holstein cow.

Little Brown Bats, while hibernating can reduce their heart rate to 20 beats per minute and can stop breathing for 48 minutes at a time. Little Brown Bats can hibernate for more than seven months if left undisturbed.

These amazing creatures deserve our respect and admiration, not repugnance or cruelty. I would gladly welcome these creatures-of-the-night around my home. I'm glad that they entered my world as they did; I learned to appreciate a much maligned animal. I can proudly say that I used to have bats in my belfry.

Brother Bear

Late last night, I was wide awake for some unknown reason and decided to watch one of my DVDs. I decided on one that was still in its wrapper - Disney's "Brother Bear." I had seen portions of it during one of my sub assignments and had wanted to see it in its entirety and last night I did so. I found it to be a very good movie with valuable lessons about unconditional love, personal transformation, and walking in another's shoes before making judgements.

The creators of this film wanted to do something on the scale of "The Lion King," but desired a different location for their story to take place. They decided on North America and began their research, finding inspiration from Native American philosophy. Native Americans have long understood the connection between man and nature and when researching for the film, researchers found many references to transformation from man to animal.

In the film, the main character, Kenai, looks forward to becoming a man but he is told by his tribe's shaman that he must learn to live by his totem - the bear of love. Being young, Kenai is impulsive and overestimates how much he really knows about life. He's bold, brash, and still carefree. His actions soon cause the death of his eldest brother, Sitka. Kenai has aggravated a mother bear and in a desperate attempt to save his brothers, Sitka sacrifices his own life by breaking off a piece of a large shelf of ice and snow that he and the bear are standing on, causing the piece to collapse into the river below. The middle brother, Denahi, blames Kenai, so Kenai decides to take matters into his own hands to avenge Sitka's death by pursuing the bear. Eventually, he finds the bear that he believes to be a killer and a thief; he never tries to see life from the perspective of the bear. At the end of his chase, he kills the bear, and this is where his journey of transformation takes place. Kenai must atone for his actions by being transformed into a bear, meeting the dead bear's cub, Koda, and making the journey with Koda to the "lights that touch the mountain." He walks in the mother bear's shoes and comes to understand the world that she lived in. In the end, Kenai does learn about love, forgiveness, brotherhood, and living in harmony with nature, but the final transformation of Kenai is unexpected.

This movie has an original storyline, as well as important lessons to teach for the viewers who are willing to pay attention. If you like movies with positive messages, this is a good one to watch.

We've come a long way

Earlier this evening, I was watching "Titanic," and as I was watching a scene between Rose and her mother discussing the importance of marriage to save their lifestyle, it made me think about how far women have come in terms of their ability to live life as they wish without having to rely on men and marriage to attain the desired level of affluence. I do feel that there's still some level of inequality, some of it of our own making, and some of it a continued societal mindset regarding a woman's place in society. However, unlike Rose and her mother, women of today have more options open to them, allowing them greater control over their destinies. It is no longer a badge of poverty to work for your daily bread, nor is the idea of women in the workplace perceived with disdain. Conversely, if we do wish for a more old-fashioned life, that's ok, too; although, I suspect that there are people who would scratch their heads as to why we would choose such a life after all of the struggles that earlier women went through so we could have more than that today.

We are very fortunate to have the freedoms that we do, but to some extent, I think some women forget this. When we do encounter arcaic views, we can now challenge those views without sacrificing the areas of our lives that are most important to us: family, career, faith, our integrity, and our identity. Some women will have to make such sacrifices, but at least we have the ability to reduce that likelihood.