What do I do with the squirrels!

I have given up with the squirrels in my yard. I thought there were only Nutkin and his 2 siblings, but I was wrong. Nutkin has a dozen of cousins living around the woodywood.

It was funny at first to see Nutkin climbing on my windows showing off his manhood from time to time, but when there were 3 Nutkins doing the same thing at the same time, it was not funny anymore. It took me a while to realise that there were more than 3 of them romping around from branch to branch. One afternoon I counted 11 of them playing in the yard and they all look the alike.

I did not believe my husband when he told me to stop feeding the squirrels on the porch before the whole clan would come and join in. Nutkin is a very tame squirrel, who would come and get nuts from my hand and eat at my feet (I sit on the lounge chair on the porch). At times Nutkin would go and dig out some nuts that he buried around the yard and bring it on the porch to eat it. I thought it was cute and friendly. Then one day when we were not at home, probably one of Nutkin's cousins got bored waiting for nuts, it chewed my door frame and the hand rail of the porch. I was angry of course, so I told Nutkin to tell his clan to behave or I would not feed them again, or they would end up in some one's pot. Do you think they listen to him? A few days later, the french door screen was chewed and torn that we had to duck-tape the holes. Now the door looks typically like a redneck door, all duck-taped. We are waiting for the nuts and fruits are ready so that they can go find somewhere else for food then only replace the door.

An early spring day.

A sunny spring day. That is what we have today, March 23rd. I went for a walk around my house and it was so peaceful except for the south wind blowing. I took some pictures and I would like to share them with my family and friends.

The pond at the back of the property that Bill dug and have some fish in it.

Blue sky and dusting of clouds.

My long driveway from down the hill.

The little unnamed creek at the bottom of the driveway. Its water is clear and never dries up even in the hottest and driest summer.

In my humble opinion

I have read in Malaysian newspapers that 7 out of 10 inter marriages between people from western cultures i.e the orang putih failed miserably.

There were a few assumptions such as the different cultural background, the different religious background and the short time of knowing each other are being the reasons.

I am married to a white American Muslim. There were many unpleasant encounters with Malaysian especially Melayu when I went home to visit.

One incident when browsing at a craft store I was asked if I was a social escort to a white man I was with.

I was given a dirty look when my husband held my hand at a Rest and recreation stop on the north south highway. I overheard a derogatory comment "Kesian mat salleh tu dapat pompuan siam tua" . For goodness sake my husband is also old. We are in our late fifties.

I was told off at a crowded arrival gate to move to a hotel room when my husband was hugging me when he came out of the customs.

I was called names when some people on my blog found out I married a white man. I was called besar kepala, megah, lupa diri etc.

Some even assumed that I was not practicing Islam and discarded my asal usul.

These are some reasons that are hard to make an inter cultural marriages work.

In my humble opinion, in order to have your marriage work if you happen to have a white man for a husband is to live away from your community. Periodical visits are healthier in your relatioship with your family as well as with your marriage.

When 38 deg. F or 4 deg.C feels like a heatwave

We have been in the deep freezer since Dec 24th 2009 and today, January 10th is the first day we have been above freezing. Today the high temperature reached the amazing 38 degree Fahrenheit. It is a joy to see the chicken running around and sun bathing in the yard. Dumdum and max must have feel relieved to be out in the sun stretching their limbs and enjoying the heat and the sun.

We only had one snow fall on the 24th of December and it has lasted until now. The snow has become so hard like a mountain of rock. Today we will see some of them melted away. It is a joy to be able to walk out of the house without six layers of clothing and a face mask. The air was so dry and cold that we can actually see the humidity turn into ice particles that float in the air. It was like silver dust being sprinkled in the air.

I hope after this deep freeze, we will see some warming trend ahead. The temperature goes back to normal which is very nice and crispy. Cold in the morning and mild in the afternoon. By normal temperature I mean, the night and early morning to be just below freezing and high is above freezing.

I am looking forward to be able to walk with my dogs again.

Welcome 2010

May we be healthier, wiser and happier.

Dumdum and Max having their new year's treat. A grilled leg of a deer each. Yumyum.

Last days of 2009

Time just flies when you are older. Year 2009 is ending. Here are some pictures of the last week of 2009.

White Christmas

It is a white Christmas alright. White Christmas is very rare in Oklahoma. When the weathermen hinted that we might have white precipitation, everyone was looking forward to a white Christmas. Nobody expected that the storm would turn 150 miles south making the whole of Oklahoma and north Texas in its path of wrath.

We had blizzard that nobody have ever seen before in the state. With sustained wind at 45 mph and over and 60 mph gusts, the whole state was crippled. A 50 vehicles piled up on the interstate and many road accidents. Oklahoma was not ready for this kind of storm. The wind was so strong that snow drifts covered the cars on the roads.

At my house the wind was so strong, I was almost blown away when I went to feed my animals. Visibility was so poor I could not see where i was going and i could not see my husband a foot away from me. I don't know how much snow we have because of the drifts. we have 3-4 feet drifts and today my husband had to use the tractor to clear the front of the house. The snow was up to my french window and almost up to the deck.

My dogs kept themselves warm in their houses and in the morning, their doors were blocked by the snow. They were snowed in. Max pushed his door to get out and was so happy playing in the snow. Both of them run up and down their cables and rolled in the snow. I am sure they enjoy themselves.

What we write in our blogs

I write on random topics in my blog. I am passionate about animals. I love animals. I observe them in my yard and see how clever the squirrels are. I write on birds too, I observe the blue jays and the cardinals in winter. I write about the furry possums the first time i saw them. I write about the deer that are so in love in the Fall that they come out in drove to mate and thus become hunted for sport and food. I also write on the tortoise that cross the roads for no reason at all and get killed just wanting to be on the other side of the highway.

I write passionately about Bull, the young bull we raised for food and of course, I write passionately about my dogs. They are and were my closed friends and protectors. They care about me and they do not talk back when i talk to them. They listen and they protect me from other critters as well as people they feel are a threat to me. Beside being a good sharp shooter and can handle guns really well, my dogs are my first alarm when anything approaches the driveway. For those with at least a little clue about living in a rural area, they understand why we rural people need protection.

I do not need to explain what i write, after all it is my blog. if anyone out there happen to drop at my blog (house), if they do not like what I have they can move on. It is very sad that those who do not like what i write, are too chicken to make themselves visible. They rather hide behind anonymity .

If they are curious about something, go do a research and increase their knowledge. having a little knowledge and assuming that they are a level higher than others is the most naive. If they only learn at school that a little knowledge is very dangerous, they don't have to expose themselves in my blog. You know the saying, it is better to be thought stupid rather than open your mouth and remove all the doubts.

I can write anything i want in my blog, so be it. You don't like it, move on.

Roo died today

I am sad that my dearest and loyal friend died today 2 days short of her 10th birthday. I have had many happy days with her, walking in the woods and she protecting me from snakes and such. Her swiftness had earned her many rabbits and quails. She also dragged home a live kicking deer.

I am missing her.

Roo is dog, a creature that God had made available in this world to be a joy and company as well a hunter and protector to humans, who sometime forget that animals too are created by Allah to live side by side with us.

To those who commented on my last blog, I thank them for showing me, how shallow some people can be. How evils and hateful their thoughts are and how little they know about their religion of peace and humility.

They condemned me without even knowing me. How bongkak dan sombong nya mengaku berkahwin dgn suami yg beriman.

Roo and the visits to the doctor continues

Roo has been with us since I first came to live in Oklahoma. She was the golden bundle that only fit in my hands the first time we picked her. She was the smallest amongst the litter. We brought her home shampooed and kept her warm and I fell in love with her.

Roo was very timid and very insecure when as a puppy. She must have been bullied by her siblings or get less food than the rest. We put her in a box and she stayed there without a whimper. To make her feel better my husband built her a tiny house and put it next to Big Bubba's house to make her feel safe and comfortable. She grows to be a beautiful dog.

She has been with us for more than ten years now and age is catching up with her. She has skin allergy and food allergy. He beautiful golden coat is shedding due skin irritation and no shampoo can stop the shedding.

Then the trips to the doctor began when her mouth and gum start to get swollen. The doctor had to do a lot of tests and trial and error drugs. it has been many months Roo and I making trips to the doctor fortnightly. If one drug does not work, we try a new one. Now she is on 4 kinds of drugs. Poor puppy. One thing about Roo, she eats her pills with no complaint. I just put them in my hand and she eats them all at one go. Then she would take a drink.

The last 2 weeks we tried on a new drug and at the same time an old rancher said that it could be the food that she is allergic to. So Beginning of last week, I took her off completely from the store bought dry food. I now cook her a meal of rice and tuna. I can see the difference, she does not itch as much, her glands started to shrink and the gum swell has stopped. I am not very sure if it is the new drug or the change of diet that making her better. Whatever it is, I am happy and hope her health improves soon.

The choices

At some point in our lives, we made choices. They may not be the right ones, but we made them. We may have good choices if we have a general plan in our lives. Ad hoc choices sometime work but more likely may not.

Making a choice is like taking a challenge. When we choose to do something, we must be clear of what stand in front of us. It maybe a smooth sailing trip or the road would be bumpy. If we feel that the end is worth the bumpy road or turbulent sea, then we know what to expect and not fail half way.

We might have marked our pit stops and review our road map from time to time and make a choice again. A wrong decision or choice maybe corrected if we trust our head than our heart. A choice maybe painful initially, but if it reaps happiness at the end, then it is worth a try.

I have made many choices in my life major and minor ones. I am still making them. We have fear of the unknown, so many a time, we chose to stay in our "comfort" zones even though we are unhappy or suffering.

The first step is to correct our perception. Take love for example, we equal love as giving care, I slave over this because i "love" them. I want to show them how much I love them. Yet, if we perceive Love as the act of receiving then we are at the other end of the stick. Just think about it, if we balance it out, we might be happier.

The choice is ours to make. It all begins with us. If we make a choice to please us, then we should not feel guilty because those or the others who feel that we should make choice to please them should feel guilty.

This is my very personal opinion of making choices. I should not be afraid that my choice does not please everyone. Whom ever "they" are can make their choices too.

A Day trip to Lake Eufala

It has been quite sometime that Mr. B and I spent time doing nothing together. So, on a Thursday morning we decided to make a trip to Lake Eufala. We have been there many times fishing and camping, but never a day trip driving around that beautiful little town by the lake. We went to the marina where the locals dock their boats. There were all kinds of boats from the small ones to the huge boat houses. Each dock has a little patio for boat owners to set up a grill and some furniture. I think some people live in their boats or boat houses and take them out to the lake from time to time. You can sail the boat from Lake Eufala right down to the Gulf of Mexico via the Arkansas River and then the Mississippi River.

All the leaves are brown lalalala

Things do get old

Things do get old rather quickly or it is just with me. I remember I was excited the first year I moved here. I was surprised to say the least that there were dirt roads or unpaved roads all over the country, just outside the cities. I was so surprise to experience the first Fall, when the trees turn into beautiful colors, yellow, red, brown and dark wine. I went to pick native pecan and walnuts by the road side and at a neighbor's ranch. They were everywhere, littering the dirt roads, nobody cared nobody picked as every one's yard has a tree or two. I made my husband stop by the roadside to pick persimmons that were ripening on the trees. The fruits on the bare trees look so inviting and I picked a bunch of them.

After years of seeing that many fall seasons, these things that excited me only 10 years ago, had somehow diminishing. They are just there year after year, but I still look forward for the changing of colors on the trees, though not in the same degree of excitement.

It was fun to sit by the fire in winter playing scrabble and cracking pecan, but I find that they get old after years of doing the same activity. I no longer crack pecans, as I now send them to the place where they have machine to do it.

It was fun to see deer in the back yard and along the road, but they are now more of a nuisance than an awe. I learn to stop the car when I see one crossing the road, because there would be a few more following behind, just running as fast as they can.

It was awesome to see a flock of turkey hundred of them crossing the road, paying no attention to you in your car, but now they are not anymore. You have to stop your car and let them cross and if you are lucky, they would fly over your car and drop poops.

Well, maybe, it is just me that is getting old.

End of summer 2009

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Hybrid banana plants (Musa)

Fennel (Jintan manis?)

What is it with Malaysian representatives overseas att

My heart was in pain when I read about a group of 300 Malaysian students stranded in Padang, Indonesia waiting for a Malaysian representative to show his/her face.

This kind of attitude has been around for a very long time. There is not any improvement since I first went overseas in the 1970's. I think it was the same before then.

A long time ago when I arrived in London, there was nobody to meet us at the airport even though we were told that the MSD would send a representative to meet us. Well that was some 40 odd years ago. Then in the course of my stay in London, I had some student's business to attend to or had to be present to deal with my study matters I was made to feel like I was more of a burden or a nuisance than a duty to the attending officer. I was made to wait for hours to meet a certain MSD officer. I waited outside the room and listened how busy she was talking for hours on the phone about a new film that was in town and when they plan to go, as well other things they were going to do. Then something interesting happened.

My friend who was with me happened to be a sister to a Datuk in Malaysia (then the datukships were not as numerous than now). This guy seemed to have worked under or with my friend's brother before. He walked past us and saw us and talked to us asking how the datuk was doing etc. The a miracle happened. The MSD officer was not busy anymore and was able to see us after more than an hour on the phone chatting. That kind of attitude is still around I can bet.

Ten years after I left London and on one of trips visiting friends, we made an appointment to meet at the lobby of the Malaysia hall. While waiting for my friend to arrive, I chatted with a few students there. I talked to one student who was there since the afternoon. (My appointment with my friend was for dinner). He came down from Norwich in the morning wanting to see an MSD officer about his scholarship that have not came in for a while and he only had a few pounds in hand. My friend and me invited him for dinner, he refused because he did not want to miss his appointment with this officer who seemed to have gone out and should be returning later. Guss what? we returned to the lobby after dinner and the student was still waiting. it was already late in the evening and for all I could think is that the officer never came back to office or was never in the office in the first place. My question is, Do these people who are paid to look after our welfare have any conscience at all???

Then in the course of work I had to attend a workshop in the Philippines. The place was Laguna. It was at SEARCA, a research centre full of foreign researchers. One day a group of us went on a bus to Manila and was robbed at knife point on a jeepny. It was in the newspaper as we made police report. The media people were there and as we were guests of the country and of international mixture, it caught the eyes of the then president of the Philippines ( I think it was Ramos).

The president sent a personal letter of apology and representatives from other victims countries came and visited us at the centre. Where was the Malaysian representative? None!!!.
So much for BCA (bersih cekap dan amanah) attitude of the time.

Living in the United States or surrounding geographical areas that has no direct representative, we have to deal with our embassy in Washington DC or various consulate in NYC and LA.
Unless you know an officer personally, you will not get your business taken care of easily.

I had numerously telephoned the embassy, it was either busy or the was nobody to answer the phone. Nobody would be knowledgeable enough to tell you what to do. It would be different if you happened to know their bosses, they would go out of their way to even give you the bosses personal cell phone number. I am writing this based on my personal experience.

However, after a very long suffering treatment from "our representatives" I came across a very nice helpful personnel at the Malaysian consulate. Before my chance meeting (phone call) or dealing with this nice young officer, I had called numerous time to the same consulate and talked to one officer who had an Indian accent and boy was he so uppity.

Still there is nothing much to shout about on the attitudes of Malaysian representatives abroad. Until the Foreign Ministry do something about this and not circulating the same group of people, the situation will remain the same even in the 22nd century.

What is after Ramadhan?

After Ramadhan is definitely the celebration. What we celebrate may differ greatly. Some celebrate because they now can eat as usual and can party to their hearts content. Some celebrate because this is the time of the year they can show off their new house, their new decorations and whatever they can show to people that come to visit. Some celebrate by throwing big open houses so that people can remember until next year how grand their open house is. They outdo each other in showing their "generosity".

Talking about generosity, some people have good intentions of giving to the unfortunates, but the way it is done is more like wanting to let it be known to the whole world. They forget that it is best that the hands that received do not know the hands that gave. So, the culture has developed that it has to be a grand ceremony when giving to the poor, the orphans and the unfortunate.

However there are a lot more out there that celebrate the end of Ramadhan by saying a prayer or two for having the time to appreciate the great month. A time to be thankful for the good life that they had and a time to repent.

Hellooooo Camper (5th wheel)

We sold one of the small tractors and bought this camper. It is much easier to accommodate visitors then to cramp up in our little 2 bed room house. 2 slides out...Roo guarding it.

These pictures are meant to be viewed by my adik beradik and sedara mara and nek.



Has an awning


Another view

This 41 feet camper can sleep six, has a kitchen, a bathroom with a bathtub and has a loungue. Bill calls it his club house.

Roo and the visits to the doctor

Roo has been with us since I first came to live in Oklahoma. She was my puppy, big brown eyes and very pretty. Lately she has been infected with all kinds of skin diseases. Her skin and coat became flaky after winter and after the flakes formed, the clump of hair would fall off leaving red spots.

I took her to the vet and after some antibiotics, she seemed to have improved. Two days ago her leg got bitten by something and it was swollen. i thought it could be a snake bite, so i thought she would get better after a benadryl and antibiotic, but when i return from town the two tiny holes have became big and oozing bloody flesh.

I called the vet and immediately took her to the animal hospital. We suspected she was bitten by a brown recluse spider which is very poisonous. The poison rots the flesh and it can be deadly. By now the wound has become big and the skin had rotted. The Vet gave her a very strong shot of penicillin and antibiotics. She came home groggy and slept all day. After the medicine booster, she was given so many pills for the last 2 days. She is to visit the Vet again on Friday.

Although it makes my wallet slimmer, I would do anything to save my first friend here. She was the one who listened to me when i was homesick, sad, bewildered. She would sit by me and with her head tilted, listened to me, watched me shed some tears and be there for me. We would sit at the back porh, me on the top stairs and she at he bottom, just being together.

Both of us are getting old together, I know I would miss her when she has to go. In dog years, Roo is 70 years old, a wise dog.

I love you Roo

The day Buddy went to a new home

Buddy had been with us for a few years. We learned to love him and thought he would mingle well with Dumdum, Roo and Max, but Buddy wanted more attention and thus would always pick a fight with Dumdum.

Since Buddy moved with us, the three of them have to be taken separately for walks. Dumdum and Max had to give away their freedom roaming around the yard or playing rough with each other. Buddy wanted to fight. He had fought 3 times with Dumdum, every time he was let loose. He lost twice but he would always intimidated Dumdum. It was very stressful for us, and when someone fell in love with Buddy and asked for him, we agreed. He has gone to a very good loving home that have kids who could give him all the attention he needed.

We heard that he was having so much fun at the new home that he would roll on the ground with the kids. He is now free to run in the yard.

I wish him the best and I miss him.