Okay, this post sorta has it all. It includes my favorites. I love to talk about myself, read poetry, look at pictures, and interact with animals. I will talk about myself later, here is one of my preferred poems:
Don’t Ever Seize a Weasel By the Tail
You should never squeeze a weasel
for you might displease the weasel,
and don’t ever seize a weasel by the tail.
Let his tail blow in the breeze;
If you pull it he will sneeze,
For the weasel’s constitution tends to be a little frail.
Yes the weasel wheezes easily;
The weasel freezes easily;
The weasel’s tan complexion rather suddenly turns pale.
So don’t displease or tease a weasel,
squeeze or freeze or wheeze a weasel
and don’t ever seize a weasel by the tail.
I love to feed the birds. I enjoy watching them go from the feeder to the tree to the fence. My birds feeding has been interrupted lately by squirrels. I bought an expensive feeder that was “guaranteed not to let squirrels get the food. The picture I took below shows the results.
I was able to get real close to take that picture. I have some very bold squirrels. As I took that image I wanted to gently grab the squirrel by it’s tail and see if I could hold it for “just a minute.” That, of course, did not work out. I was reminded of the above poem. I am beginning to grow happy with my squirrels.
Oh, I said I would talk about me. See my daddy and I have the answer to the very offensive phrase “she has squirrels in her head.” You know, that is what some say of the mentally ill. However, my daddy and I have decided we might be just happy with our squirrels in our head and out. Just don’t try to seize us by the tail.
Lizzie
Dear Lizzie, I (Severe Chronic Depression w/Psychotic Features; Bi Polar Type II) was depressed this morning until I came across the word “weasel” in a book of fiction, and my mood immediately lifted; I was nearly caught by a fit of giggles. I wondered if other people found “weasel” to be the funniest word imaginable, or if it was my early exposure to this delightful poem? That,when I googled “seize a weasel”, it was found on a fellow bipolar’s blog made it even more pleasurable to read – I wanted to share it on face book, but wasn’t certain I had it all committed to memory. I had! Did you ever notice that the word seize violates the “i before e, except after c” rule? There are exceptions to every rule – and I consider you & your Daddy & me and others “mentally ill” to be merely exceptions, and exceptionally good ones, to the rule that all people must behave and think in a certain way. I would have been sad today, without Jack’s wonderful poem, which most certainly speaks of weasels with an exceptional voice.
I also enjoyed the content of your blog – I have found the only way to save some seed from the squirrels for the birds is to have a very fast little dog that hangs about in the front yard, near the bird feeder. And my sister, who feeds the birds and the squirrels on her back porch rail, accidentally once “seized a squirrel by the tail” – it was panicked by her coming out on the porch with more seeds, and in its attempt to race to safety, it ran towards her, frightening her(a rabid squirrel!)in to doing a hopping dance, when one of her feet came down on the end of the poor squirrel’s tail, tearing away a large tuft of fur! The squirrel is still well and visits my sister’s porch, identified by his slightly less puffy tail. She did this to one of her cats once (by accident, of course)so maybe she just has dangerous feet to those with long tails.
Best wishes to you, Miranda