It's that time of year when the evening northwestern Missouri sky is often filled with geese landing in large fields. If you're from this region then you know the sight I'm talking about. It's an occurrence where the geese actually form their own traffic pattern with large groups joining in the flow to land safely. It's really impressive. The T-Park is across the street from an evidently appealing field for
geese and there are sometimes literally hundreds if not thousands of them circling in for landings.
Such an evening arrival was going on when I got home last night after work. As I pulled up I saw a couple of my neighbors standing in the driveway next door watching it all. I parked, got out and walked over to them. They were pretty absorbed in the spectacle and I watched along with them for a minute or so.
Finally I said "It's pretty impressive, isn't it?"
Neither looked at me but one of them answered, "It sure is."
A few seconds later, he asked no one in particular "Do you think there's a dead animal over there to make 'em circle like that?"
I froze.
The other answered, "Man I sure HOPE it's dead already. Otherwise there's a shitload of hurt rainin' down on it."
Zoologist #1 grunted in agreement saying, "Got that right. Probably just a dead cow or sumthin'."
I have already committed too many social errors in interactions with my neighbors to point out to these gentlemen that geese are not carnivorous, let alone nocturnal pack hunters of livestock. I don't actually know why geese congregate in the fields at night, but I'm almost certain it's not for dining on bovine.
I might have let the slightest snort of a laugh escape after the first question, but was able to quickly pass it off as a throat clearing.
I watched for a few more seconds then excused myself with the most sincere "It'll all be over by morning" that I could muster.
I quietly slipped away to leave them sole witnesses to the only beef-featured goose feeding frenzy I've ever heard of.
I'm quickly approaching a point where idle chit-chat will be a total impossibility.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Open Curtains
Wow, the weather is gorgeous today. I wish I could open the curtains. You don't see curtains or doors open in a T-Park. I have a few theories on this.
It could be that since they are all exactly the same and lined up so symmetrically, there is no way to have your curtains open without looking straight out, across the yard, and into your same exact room with minor and sometimes disturbing differences. I already tried opening the bedroom curtains, and found myself looking 15 feet away into a copy of my own bedroom only with my contemporary painting themed decor replaced with rebel flags and Hank Williams Jr posters. Every time I've tried letting some light in the living room by opening some curtains on the OTHER side of the trailer, I'm repeatedly flipped off by THAT neighbor's 5 year old who stations herself in their window eating a never ending supply of blow pops and cheese puffs in between her random full window view spankings.
Of course, there's a strong possibility that to open curtains is to invite the curious eyes of the law into one's trailer. I have no doubt that there is much illegal activity going on around the neighborhood and that I'm surrounded by current and/or former criminals. There is a map of the T-Park at the community center that breaks it up into highlighted zones distinguished by the presence of liberating interference to ankle monitors. There are also quite a few posted "Neighborhood Watch" signs, with a prominent phone number. The fine print instructs concerned citizens to dial the number if we "see or suspect police or informant activity in the neighborhood" and by dialing it "the necessary inhabitants" would be notified via some sort of phone relay.
Finally, I suspect many people keep themselves closed in for the main reason that I do. When you're INSIDE of a trailer, you can almost convince yourself that you're in a normal house. I know that some people go so far as to put false doorways on exterior walls so that it looks like they could go into non-existent rooms or install false 1/4 stairwells that can give the occupant a sense that there is another floor. Sometimes, when I'm inside, I forget that I'm basically inhabiting a well-appointed storage bin, and it's only once I open a door or curtain to see the box next to mine that I'm reminded that I live in a trailer. A properly fitted single layer of cloth, pulled strategically across the window can block not only sunlight and the prying eyes of Johnny Law, but also the dismal reality that might otherwise be impossible to ignore.
Screw it! I'm throwing ALL of the curtains and windows open. I'll just flip my own birds, enjoy the beatings and put my MP3 of MLK's "I Have A Dream" speech on repeat loop blaring through the speakers in my bedroom. It's a beautiful day today, even in the T-Park! I'm taking it all in!
It could be that since they are all exactly the same and lined up so symmetrically, there is no way to have your curtains open without looking straight out, across the yard, and into your same exact room with minor and sometimes disturbing differences. I already tried opening the bedroom curtains, and found myself looking 15 feet away into a copy of my own bedroom only with my contemporary painting themed decor replaced with rebel flags and Hank Williams Jr posters. Every time I've tried letting some light in the living room by opening some curtains on the OTHER side of the trailer, I'm repeatedly flipped off by THAT neighbor's 5 year old who stations herself in their window eating a never ending supply of blow pops and cheese puffs in between her random full window view spankings.
Of course, there's a strong possibility that to open curtains is to invite the curious eyes of the law into one's trailer. I have no doubt that there is much illegal activity going on around the neighborhood and that I'm surrounded by current and/or former criminals. There is a map of the T-Park at the community center that breaks it up into highlighted zones distinguished by the presence of liberating interference to ankle monitors. There are also quite a few posted "Neighborhood Watch" signs, with a prominent phone number. The fine print instructs concerned citizens to dial the number if we "see or suspect police or informant activity in the neighborhood" and by dialing it "the necessary inhabitants" would be notified via some sort of phone relay.
Finally, I suspect many people keep themselves closed in for the main reason that I do. When you're INSIDE of a trailer, you can almost convince yourself that you're in a normal house. I know that some people go so far as to put false doorways on exterior walls so that it looks like they could go into non-existent rooms or install false 1/4 stairwells that can give the occupant a sense that there is another floor. Sometimes, when I'm inside, I forget that I'm basically inhabiting a well-appointed storage bin, and it's only once I open a door or curtain to see the box next to mine that I'm reminded that I live in a trailer. A properly fitted single layer of cloth, pulled strategically across the window can block not only sunlight and the prying eyes of Johnny Law, but also the dismal reality that might otherwise be impossible to ignore.
Screw it! I'm throwing ALL of the curtains and windows open. I'll just flip my own birds, enjoy the beatings and put my MP3 of MLK's "I Have A Dream" speech on repeat loop blaring through the speakers in my bedroom. It's a beautiful day today, even in the T-Park! I'm taking it all in!
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