David,
Have you asked the fowl how they feel about Chic’Filet and its advertising
campaign featuring comical cows who urge us to “Eat more chicken”?
Happy New Year,
John
On Jan 6, 2019 15:09 -0500, david ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx>, wrote:
There hasn’t been what you would call a flood of responses to the invitation
to ask chickens questions. They, on the other hand, have been asking if
anyone has been asking and expressed their readiness in other ways too
including, if you can believe this, a chorus of, “Oh Canada,” with special
emphasis on the words, “We stand *on guard* for thee.” The things these
chickens learn from little birds. Actually not so little; the song arrived by
way of Canada geese migration.
To keep their blood pressure low, I came up with a few questions myself.
“What is your view on the potential of solar energy hereabouts? We’ve had an
expert in but it’s not clear that even with global warming Oregon our part of
the world is a particularly good candidate.”
Mimo, “Very much in favor.”
Appenzeller, “You’ll have noted that as soon as we get any amount of sunshine
we spread our wings and lie down.”
Pecorino, “One of the most wonderful feelings in the world, solar energy
charging.”
“I thought you were ridding yourselves of mites…something like that.”
Mimo, “We are not mighty.”
Appenzeller, “Not in the least.”
“Oh,” I said, backing off. “Right.”
Pecorino put me straight, “Those are not the only alternatives, might and
right. Some of us take a more subtle view.”
We had a storm from the South this week. Such storms cause considerable
thinning of Douglas Firs and much thumping on the roof as widow-makers and
smaller branches rain down. It was quite the night. The chickens emerged
shaken. Like warriors after a bombardment, they didn’t choose to discuss the
experience.
Change of subject: one of the things you learn in tennis is how to judge when
a ball is headed out. In singles there’s no one to tell. You make a judgement
and live with the consequences. In doubles there’s a possibility your partner
may hit the ball when that is not necessary. In your judgement. To warn him
or her you can’t shout, “out,” for that would amount to a call—it’s
impermissible to call a ball out before it has landed—so you need another
word. I like, “bounce,” which is easy to hear and clear, short for, “let the
ball bounce and then we’ll see if I’m right or not.” There are a lot of
“bounce” calls in any human relationship and I’m tempted to suggest the word
might have wider uses so when an issue normally requiring judgement comes up
in a conversation, try using the word “bounce.” Let me know how that goes.
Still on the subject of relationships… lists can be dangerous. On ships, for
example. But also say domestically. I listed in my head all the appliances
that other members of the household may never have used. The toilet plunger
is the simplest instance. In the equal world to which we aspire one might
have thought both of us would have left DNA on the handle. If murder were to
be committed hereabouts and the implement were sent off for analysis, it
could be that only fifty percent of the population would show up in the
results but, of course, if one were to mention such inequality even in this
modern era…murder might result. So…we’ll avoid such lists.
Final subject: British television and football share a tradition of coming to
a small climax at Christmas. Not so hereabouts. No soccer or television at
all hereabouts. I mentioned this to my new tennis partner, who heads a local
t.v. station. He didn’t seem surprised. I’m apparently not his target market.
And what is our alternative? On New Year’s Eve we watched, “All About Eve,”
which seemed appropriate. My goodness Marilyn Monroe once was young.
Afterwards there was a program about sound recording which…do not
laugh…turned out to be interesting. Annie Lennox had lots to say,
so—ignoramuses that we are—we looked up who she is. She was in a group called
the Eurythmics. Some of you will now be feeling as snooty as a chicken. I bet
you snoots don’t know that the group’s name came from form of dance in which
those who first performed “Rites of Spring” were trained.
Annie grew up in Aberdeen and went to London to study the flute and the
harpsichord. I imagine the latter were in short supply in Aberdeen. “You’d
like to learn to play what now?” Perhaps Aberdeen has more culture than was
revealed by our one night’s stay in a hotel near the airport. Maybe Aberdeen
is the harpsichord capital of Europe? I made a mental note to ask the
chickens about Scottish harpsichord history. I’ll let you know if there’s any
response.
David Ritchie,
Portland,
Oregon------------------------------------------------------------------
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