the white bone

by barbara gowdy

it's been quite a while since i've read an animal-based novel - one where the narrator is an animal and it all takes place in that animal's world (eg. one of my all-time favourites, black beauty or watership down) if you didn't figure it out yet, the white bone is much in this strain. the setting: the world of the she (i.e. elephants) in africa.

the elephants have been facing two different problems - they're being hunted for their tusks by "the hindleggers" (i.e. humans) and there's a horrible drought. to survive this all, they are looking for "the safe place". the legendary "white bone" will point them in the direction of the place. so really, they are in search of the white bone.

it was a rather interesting novel ... to say the least. it was educational, much like the discovery channel is. but, some of it was just a little too much. i don't watch the animal stuff on the discovery channel for a reason. i don't find the mating rituals of animals all that ... fascinating. and there was quite a bit of talk of that in the book.

what i did like though, was the creation of a whole belief system. it was the world of the she. they didn't give birth, they simply had calf tunnels dug through them. the bulls were nothing but diggers. the she-ones (i.e. elephants) saw themselves as the superior creature. but every animal had a name for itself - they all thought they were the superior creature. i can't think of any of them right now, but i found it interesting. the way that every creature thinks of itself as the best - humans are no exception.

also, the she-ones thought humans were evolved from the she (which is interesting b/c that put humans on the same intellect level as the she-ones); two elephants were on a trek once and so hungry that they ate the flesh of another animal (that is seen as one of the hugest sins ever by the she-ones) and thus turned into hindleggers.

i find it hard to take novels taking place in the animal world and narrated by an animal as a really adult novel. but that's just my book snobbishness shining through, i suppose. why am i a book snob? i don't think i really have the right. ah well.

sloth

i always knew that i could be rather lazy, slothful even, but i never realized just how lazy i was - today it dawned on me.

i just took a shower. i'm in my towel-robe. and i just sit here, doing nothing. i'm apparently too lazy to change into clothes. isn't it great that you can freely admit to these things on the seeming anonymity that is a blog?

p.s. aren't saturdays great?

paper

so why is it that paper comes in packs of about 500 pages (printer paper that is) .. but printers never fit a full pack of paper - so you have like 30 pages left over?

just wondering.

the saga continues

so i got my phone back, i thought everything would be wonderful. everything would be fixed. alas, it was not.

the same old problems started occurring. then, a new problem arose. according to my call history i received a call on friday april 10 and on sunday april 10. according to my calendar (yes, i checked - just in case), this is impossible.

so back i trudge to the store. return my phone once again. get a loner phone once again (this one is silver and flips ... it's not too bad) ... except ...

well, i tried making a call on the phone tonight - and it appears that it wasn't activated. yep, that's right .. they gave me a phone that i can't actually use. and out there in lala land, if anyone was trying to reach me on my cell phone, they wouldn't be able to. at least i have a phone period, so i can pretend to be cool by pretending to make and receive calls on the unactivated phone.

thank you telus, you really are wunderbar.

the raccoons

do you remember the show "the raccoons" from back in the day. i'm pretty sure it was a canadian cartoon - it had something to do with promoting environmentalism, if i remember correctly. i was a fan of the show mostly b/c one of the raccoons was called melissa .. it's always fun to have a character on tv to share a name with. (although, they do seem to like to use my last name on law & order, and it's not always a good thing. i don't like when the characters that share my name are the perpetrators of crime). but back to the raccoons. on that show they were so cute and helpful and funny! and sometimes bert was just downright goofy. why did the cartoons lie to me? WHY?

there are quite a few raccoons that seem to like to gallyvant around my neighbourhood. they have decided to take over the neighbourhood as their own, i fear. luckily these raccoons are not quite as big as some of them that i've seen occasionally lying on the shoulders of the country roads. still, they're nasty little critters.

yesterday, i was venturing out of my humble abode and saw one removing a garbage bag from a garbage can and then proceeding to tear through it. it's interesting to watch them actually do that. usually, i just see the evidence that that's what they've done, never have i caught one in the act. then on my way home yesterday evening, one opened my neighbours gate and was cavorting on their porch ... this wouldn't be so alarming except that they're porch is attached to mine!

this is just an introduction for my final story though. i was returning home the other night and i looked up ahead of me and there was a raccoon standing on the sidewalk. he was staring something down. i kinda stamped my foot - he puffed himself up. great, i thought - now i've angered the beast. so, i scampered over to the other side of the street. then, i saw the other one. he was in a tree, almost eye level with me. he was staring down critter number 1.

lessons learned? never get in the middle of a raccoon fight.

p.s. what's up with old navy commercials. do they realize how annoying their ad campaigns are? the latest one, bust a tun (as in tunic) ... dear me! it's just wrong! ever so wrong!