Now the son of the man who was said to be killed by a giant is complaining of chest pain. He is worried that the giant may be taking further revenge on him. So he left his carpentry job in the city to go see the quack doctor in the village. This is the same young man who survived 13 stab wounds a couple years ago plus a couple bouts of pneumonia afterwards. I suspect it is more due to the fact that he suddenly took up smoking during his father's illness, but what do I know?
He was somewhat relieved when the quack doctor assured him it wasn't the giant but rather a dead grandmother who is demanding some chickens.
I can't help wondering why grandparents who loved us in life would now turn against us in death and become malevolent.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Still amusing ourselves to death
I read the book "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman a couple years ago and when I ran across this cartoon, well, it says it all. (Cartoon by Stuart McMillan at www.recombinantrecords.net)
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Slain by a Giant????
Giants are apparently large spirit beings who like to live in certain trees, especially large trees with heavy shade. They are said to be able to cause mischief if you inadvertantly disturb them.
A friend’s brother recently became sick. He was 50 years old. Last week there were rumors that a “friend” of his whose father was a renowned practitioner of black magic had put “poison” in his food. But, this week they said it was a giant.
There was an old mango tree on his property which had been there since he was a boy. It’s a tree that bears the smelly mangoes, they are very sweet but have an unusually pungent odor and not everyone likes them. Some neighbors recently asked if they could cut the tree down and use it to make charcoal, a common way for rural folk to make a bit of cash. Since not many people are interested in buying the fruit, he agreed and it was done. But, soon afterward he became ill. According to the quack doctor, there had been a giant living in that tree and he was angry because it was cut down. The quack doctor recommended that they do a certain ceremony with a white chicken and 8 eggs. They did do the ceremony but it didn't do any good.
From what I could tell, the man had lived a hard life. His wife died soon after their third child was born, nearly 20 years ago. He left the kids with his parents to raise and he went to the city and spent many years as a pedicab driver. His meager earnings were spent mostly on drinking. He often just slept in his pedicab rather than rent a room. He smoked and drank for years and didn’t eat well. After his father died 5 years ago, he moved back home with his mother and worked some on the family farm but continued smoking and drinking heavily with his friends. When I heard that he was complaining of lack of appetite, weight loss, difficulty breathing, swelling, I assumed that he was probably starting to have problems with liver failure.
But, what do I know? Whatever it was, he died this morning. His entire family was present as he had requested. But I do wonder what they will put on the death certificate.....
A friend’s brother recently became sick. He was 50 years old. Last week there were rumors that a “friend” of his whose father was a renowned practitioner of black magic had put “poison” in his food. But, this week they said it was a giant.
There was an old mango tree on his property which had been there since he was a boy. It’s a tree that bears the smelly mangoes, they are very sweet but have an unusually pungent odor and not everyone likes them. Some neighbors recently asked if they could cut the tree down and use it to make charcoal, a common way for rural folk to make a bit of cash. Since not many people are interested in buying the fruit, he agreed and it was done. But, soon afterward he became ill. According to the quack doctor, there had been a giant living in that tree and he was angry because it was cut down. The quack doctor recommended that they do a certain ceremony with a white chicken and 8 eggs. They did do the ceremony but it didn't do any good.
From what I could tell, the man had lived a hard life. His wife died soon after their third child was born, nearly 20 years ago. He left the kids with his parents to raise and he went to the city and spent many years as a pedicab driver. His meager earnings were spent mostly on drinking. He often just slept in his pedicab rather than rent a room. He smoked and drank for years and didn’t eat well. After his father died 5 years ago, he moved back home with his mother and worked some on the family farm but continued smoking and drinking heavily with his friends. When I heard that he was complaining of lack of appetite, weight loss, difficulty breathing, swelling, I assumed that he was probably starting to have problems with liver failure.
But, what do I know? Whatever it was, he died this morning. His entire family was present as he had requested. But I do wonder what they will put on the death certificate.....
Rat Update
June 8, 2009
Since we have been able to close the windows we have not had any more nocturnal damage to our fruit and vegetables. But it sure does make the place hot! The rat has not yet given up trying to get in. For the last three days he has apparently tried to climb up the glass and has left his urine all over the outside. We know he is BIG because the glass panes still have nearly a ½ inch gap between them. I am sure if he could get through, he would have done so. (Though he would still have to deal with our new screen.)
Saturday much of our white cement and saltine cracker mixture that we put at the back of the empty apartment next door had disappered. We refilled it and put out more dishes. Sunday I didn’t go check the dishes next door but the BIG rat had again left evidence of trying to get in through the window. I bought a kilo of bread crumbs from a bakery. It must have cake crumbs in it too because it smells really good! This afternoon we
went to refill the bait bowls with the bread/cake/cement mixture we saw a dead rat in the path! Hooray! (But it wasn’t the BIG rat.) From the smell there are more like it down at the basement entry. Hopefully the new bait will smell as good to the rest of the rats as it does to me. I also bought some shrimp flavored Knorr cubes as a further taste treat if needed. We also found a plug-in rat repellant so we can try that too though of course it doesn’t solve the problem, it only (hopefully) sends them elsewhere. I’m not quite ready to leave the window glass open at night, though.
went to refill the bait bowls with the bread/cake/cement mixture we saw a dead rat in the path! Hooray! (But it wasn’t the BIG rat.) From the smell there are more like it down at the basement entry. Hopefully the new bait will smell as good to the rest of the rats as it does to me. I also bought some shrimp flavored Knorr cubes as a further taste treat if needed. We also found a plug-in rat repellant so we can try that too though of course it doesn’t solve the problem, it only (hopefully) sends them elsewhere. I’m not quite ready to leave the window glass open at night, though.
July 4, 2009
The rats se
em to have vanished. We have had no more nocturnal visitors, we no longer hear them in the daytime and we haven't seen any at night either. We no longer find their droppings all over the yard, and we have barbecued a couple of times with no visitors! I gues the cement and bread crumbs did the trick. We recently got new neighbors who cleaned up a big pile of old cans and rubbish in their yard so we hope things will stay calm.
em to have vanished. We have had no more nocturnal visitors, we no longer hear them in the daytime and we haven't seen any at night either. We no longer find their droppings all over the yard, and we have barbecued a couple of times with no visitors! I gues the cement and bread crumbs did the trick. We recently got new neighbors who cleaned up a big pile of old cans and rubbish in their yard so we hope things will stay calm.
Unfortunately, the new mama cat died a couple of weeks ago. We think she died of poisoning because she died rather suddenly and we know other neighbors use rat poison. With three growing kittens she had been very busy hunting. Her three kittens were under the roof next door. We tried to catch them but only got one which died shortly afterwards. (They hide deep under the roof and we can't get at them.) We thought maybe all three had eaten of the same poison rat but suprisingly the other two have survived. They are very shy and startle easily. We have been putting food out 2
-3 times a day and when all is quiet we can sometimes see them come out and eat. Fortunately no one has yet moved into the next door apartment on that side so we can go through there every day to put food on the roof. But we haven't figured out how to get them. I hope they will eventually be willing to come into our yard.
-3 times a day and when all is quiet we can sometimes see them come out and eat. Fortunately no one has yet moved into the next door apartment on that side so we can go through there every day to put food on the roof. But we haven't figured out how to get them. I hope they will eventually be willing to come into our yard.
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