Mukilteo Musings

My Protectors

The eagles woke me up this morning with their squawking at 7:30 AM on the dot. It is ok because I think of them as my protectors. My comfy perch on the family room couch has a view of the water, the mountains, yes, the TV, and one of the eagles' favorite trees. I was just watching the two of them, probably a matched pair for life, sitting closely together on the very top of the tree. One of them, maybe the female, started talking and her partner left the top of the tree and swooped in a circle as if he did not like her yelling in his ear about something. "You missed that dead fish--how could you mess up such an easy prey, Elliot!" At this point, the second eagle also left the tree top and swooped in a circle with the other one. Then they both landed together back on the same exact spot. I guess all is forgiven.

Yesterday, the Puget Sound area had a storm with wind and rain and snow dumping in the mountains. We have had a leaky window in our downstairs den since we moved into this house. The water always came from our front deck right above the window. But thanks to advice from my brother and our bathroom contractor, Dave may have actually fixed it last summer with some extra flashing under the Trex decking. The sideways pounding rain yesterday did not leak through. Yea for small victories in life.

Poor Apolo. He hates the wind and the gushing rain. We have a Santa on our front deck who waves when he is lit up. Unfortunately, the wind blew his head off and Apolo could not deal with a headless Santa waving into the dark last night. He became completely unglued. One of our neighbors has a blow up Santa and when the wind causes him to bounce around and do push ups, Apolo is equally as frightened. He has a definite scared bark that ends with a "woo, woo, woo, WOOOOOO!" Yep, Apolo still asks to sleep downstairs especially with ghostly Santas haunting him in the family room.

While the storm moved in yesterday, I felt well enough to pull out the rest of my Christmas decorations. I thoroughly enjoyed the annual routine of putting everything in its place. Every year, I pretty much do the same thing. Rather than making me sad, the day provided comfort. For that I was grateful. The only glitch was that I could not find Lucas' two Christmas stockings that we have had since he was a baby. He was in France last year so somehow his stockings became separated from Kaley's. All of our Christmas boxes were moved around and out of our storage closet about 18 times by the contractors last winter. But luckily, Dave found them this morning.

The only sad part of yesterday was when Dave returned home from work with his story. He attended his office party and as usual, he took a request for the needy off of the giving tree. Rather than a plush toy for a child in a family having a tough time, the request was for sleeping bags and handwarmers for homeless teenagers. He was shocked. This year we have more people in desperate need than ever before in this country. Dave stopped at a sporting goods store and purchased two sleeping bags and handwarmers all of the time thinking that they were not joyous presents. Certainly, they will be used and appreciated but still....! Sleeping bags and handwarmers?? What are we not doing right in this nation?

This Christmas, my prayer is for everyone to slow down the frenzied shopping, cooking, and card sending. Enjoy the season because life is terribly short and you never know how many Christmases you will have on earth. Think about why we celebrate. This is the time of the birth of our Savior. I repeat, this is the time of the birth of our Savior. Wal-Mart has nothing to do with it. Take time from the frenzy to do something for the huge numbers of us in great need.

And who cares if Santa's head blows off?!