A Break In

A frantic sound breaks the peace when either of our cats jumps up on our screen door to try to get in. “Yeaoooowlll! Thump! Yeaooooowlll! Thump!” The cat hangs to the window screen demanding attention...climbing, falling, crying again and again. The result? People are stirred take action...let that cat in! (Thus reinforcing the spectacle). Imagine my surprise last week when, after all of the craziness had passed, the beast had been let in and I was looking at the new damage to the door, I found an anarchy symbol chalked right benieth the new claw hole! I always suspected my cats were anarchists!  ...tearing apart my screens, sleeping only on CLEAN laundry, bringing bloody "presents" (or worse...parts of "presents") to the porch for us...the list goes on. But an anarchy symbol?!!! Unfortunately for us, but lucky for the cats, I had a worse idea of where it came from.

Yesterday, I found out that our neighbor's house was broken in to. Every five or so years I hear about somebody in the creek who’d had break-in. I suspect our anarchy symbol may have been drawn by some frustrated fool making a statement about how secure our house is. I take it as a compliment...but I still feel violated. Under the surface, there have always been insidious rural criminal behaviors. Our first sheep had been originally saved from an abusive farm (one had two teeth left!). I remember as a child knowing about some whip marks on a little girl's back...so did the nurse. Abuse, trauma, violation, and drug abuse HAPPENS but in the country it just is not as visible.

How can we be good neighbors? How do we maintain the integrity of our community in the face of violations? Well, let’s look at my cats. When THEY ARE DESTRUCTIVE and we want quickly solve the immediate problem of the cats hanging onto and destroying another piece of the screen, WE ARE REACTIVE and we run over to let them in. Then they run over to their dishes to get their food. What we really did was shorten a bad moment while REINFORCING THE BAD BEHAVIORS... At least they aren't hanging off the screen anymore right?

Now we are trying to think about a better way to deal with the cats because we need to LIVE PEACEFULLY TOGETHER while maintaining our house's integrity. So, when they are destructive we try to remember (and remind each other) to not give them what they want. Sometimes we PENALIZE THEM (by spraying their faces with water) so that they get the message. But we also want and try to RE-TRAIN the cats on the best ways to get our attention and be invited. Like it or not we LOVE THEM, bad habits and all, and we NEED THEM, to keep things running smoothly (those "presents" are not eating the sheep grain, dying in my car engine or running around in unwanted places). So we are working on BEING PATIENT, offering love, REINFORCING them when they are asking to come in THE RIGHT WAY and teaching our kids how to do the same...Instead of being reactive.

THE LESSON (part I): The people who resort to crime do not have the resources needed to live peacefully in our community. So in the short term let’s make sure that our houses are locked. Let's watch neighborhood and notice what is out of the norm. Let's not tolerate the abuses. Let's call each other to check in, when something seems wrong. And let’s give the penal codes a little use. That way we are not reinforcing the behaviors and we can safeguard our community. At the same time, we have to consider how what we do today can play out into the future. For this and a handful of other reasons, let's care about our neighbors who are afflicted, are addicted, are in trouble, or don't have the resources they need and resort to crime. Use what is in our hearts, in our school, in our town and in our groups to patiently reinforce the right ways to go about life and teach our children to do the same....

THE LESSON (part II): Cats do not draw anarchy symbols! (But...they may be anarchists!)

Catching up

My nana was best friends with her neighbors, who now are actually my neighbors too because we built our house on family land.  Jane, Dorothy and Nana used to walk the loop every morning to "catch up". Cecile was also a great friend of thiers too (she lived just down the road).  Cecile passed away.  Then Nana passed.  Jane and Dorothy are still next door and we see them every halloween and on Town Meeting day.  Sometimes John brings over some stew and this summer they bought lemonade at my kids lemonade stand. And we always try to "catch up".  We live in such a close neighborhood and up until only 20 years ago there was a "party line" phone system so, even though we weren't supposed to "listen in" everyone miraculously always just knew what was going on in town.  There are also a lot of Sheldon families who are networks of relations all over the town.  Most are hard working, dedicated to taking good care of each other and have become cornerstones of our community.  Within all of this I can't help but think of my Nana and her "catching up".  I have a feeling that there may be a lot to be said about the women-friend neighbors in our town. 

When I brought my daughter to school for the first time a couple of years ago, four parents who I  went to Sheldon school with for the 9 years I was there were dropping off their kids into my daughter's class. To date, there are at least eight women that are living in town who I know, grew up with and have decided to raise their children in Sheldon.  I think it may be time for us to "catch up".  I may just have to "call up the neighbors to have 'em 'round"... stay tuned!

The Rainbow Glider

Norman was up in the sky after chores last evening. I was out on my deck after dinner, taking a look at the town and heard the undeniable hum. His motor-powered rainbow glider sounds a bit like a lawn-mower, and a bit like a dirtbike. I regret never asking him about it. How'd it come to be a part of his life anyway? For me, his flyer is another little thing that I love about my hometown. It is a wonderful thing that he can take his glider up and fly overhead of our valley like that. We all share a beautiful little corner of the world, down in the Creek, and I think that he must have the best view of every thing up there. I could have sworn he dipped down a bit to check out our sheep from above as he passed by toward sun-down. At about the same time, my husband, John, and my Uncle, Doug, were walking out in Danny Lussiers fields to get John's treestand up. Norman flew overhead and waved. They waved back. In my book, that rainbow glider isn't a bad way to get the low-down on what's up in Sheldon Creek. But lets not all get one, though- that thing sure does hum!

Belief

I went to the camp at Fairfield pond this morning to drop something off with my sister. The dew was so thick on my windows and the air so crisp, I had the warm defrost on all the way. Last night's Fall chill had raised Black Creek's "Fog curtain" which was hovering in the valley, as I passed over the bridge. Later as I pulled onto the Napoli Camp Road, I noticed the mist on the glassy water was rising and circling making the boats were look as if they were floating on clouds. VPR said that we should cover our gardens tonight, because there may be frost. I believe it.

Foggy Beginnings

Fog was thick in The Creek yesterday when we woke...a sure sign all the way to the beginning. Fall is upon us. We were also faced with, during our waking moments, the first day of school...you could smell it in the air. Foggy morning beginnings stretch back to me waiting for the first bus or my mother and her sister and brother walking to school in The Creek, when it was still in the red building. For a moment, yesterday could have been yesteryear. The fog was so thick and then finally it lifted revealing a brilliant blue sky day. It hinted at summer, but we knew the truth. The weekend was filled with back to school preparations and pickling our harvests. Now our kids have full backpacks and the pantry is filling by the minute. It's been a summer squash, cukes and beans summer. Now the blackberries are here too. We know our gardens will need to go to bed soon, and the first frost is around the corner. For now, though, let’s breathe in the cool air, take time to reflect as we fill our bowls full of harvest and listen for the sound of the bus coming up the street.

sheldon creek philes

Clubs and Organizations for Sheldon Vermont VT - AmericanTowns.com