Act Happy

[nacktman]

March 20th is Act Happy Day. http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/wink3.gif

So, act happy, damnit! http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/smash.gif

And do it nude! http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/eusa_dance.gif

[nakedjohn]

durn, i feel happy today!!

[shãybare]

http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/cool4.gif
It's the 1st day of Spring. That's a reason to be happy.

[stcloud50]

My team Wichita State won 2 games this weekend and will be playing in the Sweet 16 Friday and today being the first day of spring makes me very happy.

[Nu]

Last week, first my computer crashed and then my printer was malfunctioning.

Today, I have a rebuilt and functioning hard drive and I fixed my printer (without having to buy a new one).

Happy days are here again!

[usmc1]

Right now, this instant.

After viciously ugly storms, with black skies and thundering lightening all of yesterady and through the night, today azaleas are in full bloom, ranging from vivid crimson red, through pinkish pastel hues to white as bright and clean as a baby's soul; orange, red and purple tulips amid yellow jonquils and daffodils reaching up to embrace drooping branches laden with snow white spirea; supervised and sheltered by blooming white dogwood, pink red bud, and golden yellow forcynthias nuzzling white bloomed sentries of ermine white robed ornamental pear trees; all against a pallet of sweet, deep, rich Kelly green of springtime St. Augustine grass.

The blue birds have returned, along with the cardinals, towhees and scissor-tailed fly catchers. The phoebes, purple finches and house finchs are setting up their nests out by the stables and barn, and soon the black masked king birds will be setting up observation posts along the fence line.

They're squabbling over territory, singing for mates and even the crows and black buzzards are staying on the fringes like attentive major-domos in tuxedos at a college cafeteria food fight.

One of the old black heifers died in the middle of night during a driving rain after falling yesterday morning. We had worked, Mr. Charles and I, and an an old dog named Buck (part blue-healer and part alligator as near as I can tell), through the day trying to get her on her feet, wrapping her in rusted logging chains and using the hilift on the tractor to get her on her feet.

The wind was wailing, the rain was pellet size and coming in horizontally pinging us with molten shot, and the skies were black, thundery and etched by white hot bolts of lightening and still we worked mostly silent and just exhanging nods, each of us understanding the task at hand and what we needed to do without discussion except when we begged and encouraged her to walk, to take to her feet, but she hung there; limp, legs dangling, glaze-eyed and unresponsive.

We gave her shots, poured nostrums down her gullet, and tried to get her to eat some fodder; but she was in shock and would not, after hours of our labors and cajolings, come around and take a step. Each time we lowered the hilift, she would collapse.

We managed finally to get her on her stomach from lying flat-out on her side after lowering her back down to earth and left her for the night, hoping our efforts to get medicines and foods in her would sustain her and give her strength.

We left Old Buck with her to keep the coyotes away.

During the night the storm worsened, and this morning when I walked out across the meadow and over the fence down into the pasture, I saw that Old Buck had left his post and she lay dead with the flies and ants already beginning their depredations. Nothing to do now, but to call for the nacker.

But, I'm happy that I did all I could for the old girl. And Mr Charles, who was formerly an acquaintance is now my friend and neighbor; Charles.

You see it was his heifer i saw down when I was on my dqaily hike and I had called him to let her know she was down. After we ended our work last night and took pause and thought a moment, we turned and took off gloves and shook hands, his huge black hand engulfing my small white hand. He asked, "how much do I owe you?". I grinned that stupid sideways grin of mine and said, nothing that's what neighbors are for. We talked a bit, and I learned that he is not Mr. Charles but that he is Charles with a last name. I asked him if he minded taht I called him Charles and he grinned and said not at all and I gave him my first name--so we are now on firstname basis, Charles and I.

It seems that around here, white people address older black people by their first names without acknowleging their last name. They do it this way: Mr Robert, or Aunt Susie--always by the first name and never acknowledging that there might be a family name.

Well, Charles and I put that nonsense behind us.

A small life has left our plane while the beautiful springtime rebirth of life is everywhere to be seen. Life continues despite our futile activities, and will do so even when our time for the nacker comes. But, until that time comes the sad death of that old heifer has enriched my life with a new friend and neighbor.

Things like this make me joyous and happy.