weekly post from April 28, 2006

The "say goodbye to April" edition

I've come to the realization that writing is just not my favorite thing to do. I started a blog thinking I would write down my ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc, however, I'd much rather be doing things like being outside with the mower, catching up with what's going on in the world, watching tv or a movie, or sweeping up dog hair. I've decided that I will only write when I feel the impetus to do so. Having said that, I do need to keep my writing skills honed somehow so I will continue, on a regular basis, with my weekly email.

Bring in da noise: Every spring the downy woodpeckers start pecking away furiously. A few years ago they would peck on our tv antenna on the roof. Then, all of a sudden, they started pecking on a street sign we have a few feet from our house. It's cute seeing them on the sign, peeking around the corner as they peck away. If I'm outside and not expecting it, it is a bit startling. Sometimes another woodpecker will answer their call from one of the many trees in our yard. It's not cute during the day when I'm trying to sleep. The woodpeckers do seem to enjoy making noise and they don't care how much noise they make. There's something to be admired in that. Many of us go around making sure we aren't noisy or cause a commotion. We may spend our days saying, or even hearing, things such as "Shh," "Keep your voice down," or "Be quiet." Why? Why don't we make more noise? On the nights I'm off, if I wake up too early I don't hear the birds singing outside but then, all of a sudden, they start their morning songs. It's as if they have an internal alarm clock and they know exactly when to start singing. We should be more like the birds and sing out more; make more noise. We've got a mouth we might as well use it. There are moments when being loud would be improper and it doesn't hurt to have some awareness of when to keep it down, however, when one has an instrument it should be used or else it becomes rusty; kind of like foreign languages, if you don't use it, you lose it.