Saturday, June 20, 2009

RUDE AWAKENING

     Sometimes rude awakenings happen at the most surprising times .


     I was delivering papers at 6 AM and was about a step and a half from the next mailbox when a jack rabbit jumped up . The rabbit had his butt up against the house foundation right under the mail box . He took a couple of little hops and then stopped and looked at me with an evil eye as if to say "You just woke me up ! " I was also wakened to some extent as delivering papers can be fairly subconscious . I was not expecting to find a rabbit under a mailbox.


     I told him I was sorry for disturbing him but it didn't seem to make him feel any better . It had rained so he was on a dry spot which had been sheltered under the eaves . So the spot was dry and comfortable .


     There are several rabbits which have a territory on my paper route and I see them most days . They keep their cover until you are almost up to them .So when they do move you are very close and it can startle you if you are daydreaming .


       They are beautiful creatures and very pleasant to have in the neighborhood .

I LOVE RHUBARB

     Today I picked my first crop of rhubarb for the year. Growth came on rapidly the last week as we had warm weather and some moisture. So I sat out in the sunshine and trimmed the leaves off , washed off the stalks and brought them into the house.


      What's so good about rhubarb ? Well, stewed rhubarb is great say nothing of rhubarb pie , cobbler and rhubarb jam. The limit of my culinary skills ends at stewed rhubarb. I freeze most of my rhubarb in 6 cup packages. This amount fits nicely with many recipes.


      Fresh rhubarb at this time of year always reminds me of what my brother and I did when we were about 3 or 4 years old. We were less than a year apart so we had many adventures. When rhubarb matured we would each find the biggest piece available. Then we would start wailing on each other with the big leafy end. We would be like the cartoon drawing showing two people fighting and there's just pairs of arms and legs sticking out of the dust. Sooner or later the leaf part would tear off and there would be a 1 inch thick stock left. Somebody would get bonked on the head or across the mouth with the solid stem and that hurt and ended the fight with some little fellow in tears.


      From there we went on to some other mischief or into the house for refreshments. Sooner or later we would pass the rhubarb patch again and have another bout. I was the larger and kind of pudgy. Merce was slim and quick . Our record of rhubarb fights was probably about even. Rhubarb season was short so we had to make the best of it .


      Today I only picked rhubarb and didn't have the pleasure of a fight !