I work with children most days and adults in different capacities and often do team building and cultural diversity activities and exercises as "ice breakers." I have found that the more things folks learn that they have in common, the more easily it is to build trust--so I often get folks to stand in circles or get a partner and talk about their favorite things.
When it comes to favorite color, I find that most people say blue or green or a shade of one or the other--mine being lime green and Mediterranean blue--of course many little girls do still say "pink and purple" but you'll have that. When they talk about their favorite flowers, most choose wild flowers like daisies, roses, sunflowers. But when it comes to trees? People tend to really get more specific and creative.
Kids (of all religions) often shout out "Christmas trees!" and smile. They don't know if they are pine or spruce or balsam firs, they just like the lights and presents...New Americans often say "oak" or describe the trees with the acorns or ones with color (the sugar maples.) Some New Americans have told me "ones you can climb." I've never heard an adult say that they preferred Christmas trees to any other--probably because they have had to deal with the purchase, hauling, setting up, light stringing, decorating, watering, clean up and disposal of said trees. They, like me, pick hardwoods--maple, oak, beech or birch---because we think about the beauty of the tree, yes, but the value of it once it is chopped down, as well. We think about our picture frames, mirrors, bedsteads, our dining room tables, hardwood floors, the post and beam construction of our summer homes...covered bridges...
It's not true that my favorite trees are Christmas trees, although I do love the fragrance as much as the next person. I love paper birch trees and beeches. Paper birches because they "breathe" and often look as if they have faces on them...and they are practical in a wilderness survival situation--bark burns even when wet. Beeches look JUST like strong muscular arms being pushed out of the soil into the forest air.They give us beech nuts. Their leaves turn a vibrant gold in autumn. And I like that look.
Forest trees that grow in clumps cling to one another's roots and some of them have root systems that push entire trees up and out and form an actual GROVE. In fact the largest living organism on Earth is a grove of aspens in California. There is nothing in this world like walking along a wooded path of a forest lined with beeches and birches in mid-August and having to don a sweater because it is so cool and shady and welcoming.
Trees are also the tallest of all living things and some of the oldest. They give us oxygen, shade, places for animals and insects to live and thrive in, climb...I could go on and on. Trees. They are my favorites.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Sunday, December 28, 2014
A Bird on Route 100 South
My brother's friend (I will call him William) told us a true story about one of the ridiculous things that his late father, a Mory cop, had told him. It all began with phone calls from tourists and locals to the Stowe Police barracks--a bird was on Route 100 and was causing a ruckus. By the time the Stowe police ascertained from a local person that the bird wasn't actually physically IN Stowe, and therefore out of Stowe's "jurisdiction" and heretofore and notwithstanding blah blah blah, without a call from Mory's police unit, Stowe's hands were tied.
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Well, it was Officer Bob McCavern who was sent out on the call to do something about a "huge turkey" probably injured, and causing "quite a stir" on Vermont Route 100 south of Mory-- so he threw a woolen blanket in the trunk of the cruiser and headed south down the highway lights flashing, sirens on.
It was all happening at one of the typical sites for accidents, an intersection of Route 100 and the Randolph Road, and a very busy section of the road, especially during foliage season. By the time Officer McCavern arrived, there was quite a commotion, cars were everywhere-- parked IN the cornfield, lined up along both sides of all three roads. Some locals were trying to chase the bird out of the road, but were, instead being chased BY the animal, who was flipping and flapping, pecking and scratching at anyone who dared come near.There was blood on the highway and it was obvious that the bird had been hit. Bob radioed his own unit for "backup then the neighboring "boys in blue" in Stowe.
Bob got on his cruiser megaphone and drove slowly through the crowds of folks, some taking photos, others rolling down windows, peeking out but not daring to exit their vehicles. He implored folks "I've got it under control, folks," he said. "You can all get back in your cars." Some people listened, women gesturing to men to go, go reaching up and taking children off the roofs of Subaru Outbacks, but because it was such a SCENE, everyone really just got in the way and made things worse.
Bob finally got TO the bird, and yes, it was injured and fighting mad but no, it was no turkey...it was a turkey buzzard, meaning a buzzard much bigger than a turkey that probably eats turkeys for breakfast. He got out of the cruiser, flipped the trunk open, grabbed the blanket and started pursuit. The turkey buzzard was, according to witnesses, "so fired up he didn't know one way from the other" and ran down across the Mory/Stowe border of Route 100 into Stowe territory! The Stowe police arrived, set up two cruiser barricades across the road and came with a third cruiser to stop on-coming traffic. Mory sent a second cruiser, then a third and then it happened, the bird half ran and half flew into the field.
Because the bird was injured, someone called the game warden, but he was way over in Eden Mills and it would "be awhile"before he could come and either save or shoot the thing. Bob chased it for awhile, but it was ducking and diving this way and that and Bob was in his 60's nearing retirement and had a heart condition...so he had to think of another way to get this thing done. He consulted with the other police officers, some of whom were ready "to kill the damn bird" but on second thought not only would this be dangerous to the citizens, it wouldn't look good to the media or the Tourist Bureau. Ever since the "Pigs in Stowe" article back in the early '80's Stowe was trying to clean up its reputation when it came to animals of all kinds.
Finally they all decided that they needed to get the bird some medical help and to do that they had to capture and hold it somewhere until the folks from Milton could come down and lend a hand. That meant calling the State Police and getting permission to use the holding cell in Hyde Park. So, eventually they did catch the poor massive bleeding bird, put it in the rear of Bob's cruiser, sent everyone home and put that bird in jail until they could sedate him and fix his broken wing, sew up his lacerations and house him at the bird rescue place.
This was over 10 years ago and that bird is still alive and well and making stops at elementary schools and community events all over Vermont. So really, to be an injured bird on the Stowe/Mory line of Vermont Route 100 is to get loads of attention from locals and tourists alike and to become a celebrity of sorts, especially if it happens during the peak of foliage season.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, it was Officer Bob McCavern who was sent out on the call to do something about a "huge turkey" probably injured, and causing "quite a stir" on Vermont Route 100 south of Mory-- so he threw a woolen blanket in the trunk of the cruiser and headed south down the highway lights flashing, sirens on.
It was all happening at one of the typical sites for accidents, an intersection of Route 100 and the Randolph Road, and a very busy section of the road, especially during foliage season. By the time Officer McCavern arrived, there was quite a commotion, cars were everywhere-- parked IN the cornfield, lined up along both sides of all three roads. Some locals were trying to chase the bird out of the road, but were, instead being chased BY the animal, who was flipping and flapping, pecking and scratching at anyone who dared come near.There was blood on the highway and it was obvious that the bird had been hit. Bob radioed his own unit for "backup then the neighboring "boys in blue" in Stowe.
Bob got on his cruiser megaphone and drove slowly through the crowds of folks, some taking photos, others rolling down windows, peeking out but not daring to exit their vehicles. He implored folks "I've got it under control, folks," he said. "You can all get back in your cars." Some people listened, women gesturing to men to go, go reaching up and taking children off the roofs of Subaru Outbacks, but because it was such a SCENE, everyone really just got in the way and made things worse.
Bob finally got TO the bird, and yes, it was injured and fighting mad but no, it was no turkey...it was a turkey buzzard, meaning a buzzard much bigger than a turkey that probably eats turkeys for breakfast. He got out of the cruiser, flipped the trunk open, grabbed the blanket and started pursuit. The turkey buzzard was, according to witnesses, "so fired up he didn't know one way from the other" and ran down across the Mory/Stowe border of Route 100 into Stowe territory! The Stowe police arrived, set up two cruiser barricades across the road and came with a third cruiser to stop on-coming traffic. Mory sent a second cruiser, then a third and then it happened, the bird half ran and half flew into the field.
Because the bird was injured, someone called the game warden, but he was way over in Eden Mills and it would "be awhile"before he could come and either save or shoot the thing. Bob chased it for awhile, but it was ducking and diving this way and that and Bob was in his 60's nearing retirement and had a heart condition...so he had to think of another way to get this thing done. He consulted with the other police officers, some of whom were ready "to kill the damn bird" but on second thought not only would this be dangerous to the citizens, it wouldn't look good to the media or the Tourist Bureau. Ever since the "Pigs in Stowe" article back in the early '80's Stowe was trying to clean up its reputation when it came to animals of all kinds.
Finally they all decided that they needed to get the bird some medical help and to do that they had to capture and hold it somewhere until the folks from Milton could come down and lend a hand. That meant calling the State Police and getting permission to use the holding cell in Hyde Park. So, eventually they did catch the poor massive bleeding bird, put it in the rear of Bob's cruiser, sent everyone home and put that bird in jail until they could sedate him and fix his broken wing, sew up his lacerations and house him at the bird rescue place.
This was over 10 years ago and that bird is still alive and well and making stops at elementary schools and community events all over Vermont. So really, to be an injured bird on the Stowe/Mory line of Vermont Route 100 is to get loads of attention from locals and tourists alike and to become a celebrity of sorts, especially if it happens during the peak of foliage season.
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