Many of you know that Rick and I built our home on my great-grandmother's old homeplace five years ago. I never really knew Granny Shull. She died when I was six and was in a nursing home the whole time I was alive. I remember scraps of occational visits, but not too much. Alas, my young mind was not developed enough to retain memories of her and that is a shame.
Mom has told me some intersting things about her, and one thing that amused me was that she was very superstitious. Oh, some of the stories I heard. Like how she had Granddaddy get rid of all her hens because one was crowing and a crowing hen is bad luck, so she got rid of them all just to be sure. Or the time she made him dig up a cedar tree because of the old wives tale that if you plant a cedar tree you'll die once it's big enough to cover your grave.
They say people were more superstitious in that day. Perhaps so. I can tell you one thing - it's not a trait I inherited. In fact, I'm not superstitious at all. I'm not saying that I don't believe in spirits and the like. I'm just saying that they don't bother me much and frankly, I don't put much stock in it. I mean, isn't it supposed to be supernatural and spooky because it doesn't happen much? If ghosts knocked crap off the counters all the time, we wouldn't worry about it.
There's also the fact that I've managed to debunk a number of those superstitions and old wives tales since we moved out here. For example, if you chop a snake in half, it doesn't writhe until nightfall. Quite the contrary, if your husband hacks at it with an ax, that sucker isn't moving at all. It's an ugly, bloody mess. What's spooky is that something came and carried it off overnight. Ew. Methinks our wildlife does not have a refined palate.
Likewise, owls hoot without regard to anything. They don't get the paper or read the obituaries and they have absolutely no way of knowing if somebody you know is about to die. They hoot because they're there and that's what they do. And they won't stop if you turn your pillow over, either. They don't know you did it and frankly, they don't care. A train whistle two miles away, though, will shut those suckers up faster than anything. And they also can't see well. I learned this in a college psychology class, but my brother confirmed it when he saw an owl fly head first into an oak tree in his back yard. The owl was quite startled, and had absolutely no messages from "the other side." Stephen wasn't sure if the owl even knew where it was at for a while.
Ladybugs in your house don't bode much for luck, but it means that you need to close the door or patch the hole. And they are helpful in the rose garden, as they eat the buggers that do kill plants.
Cats do not have nine lives, or at least getting hit by a truck pretty much takes all of them at once.
Crows cawing in your yard and raising hell don't mean death is coming. It means there's a raptor is nearby. I don't know why, but if crows see a raptor, they surround it and scream at it. I guess they figure raising hell will annoy them enough to go away.
That sound outside at night is not the boogeyman. It's likely raccoons. Or perhaps opossums. And opossums really do play dead. Just don't mess with them. They can get visious and it's just not worth it. They'll revive and be on their way shortly.
And in closing, we decided that if you plant a cedar tree then you probably will die when it gets tall enough for the shadow to cover your grave because by then you'll be old. So there may be a reason for that one.
Happy Halloween everybody! Have fun and stay safe out there. Don't forget to check out my FREE Halloween themed long story, Resonance, at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/88653 or at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/resonance-sherri-fulmer-moorer/1106547585?ean=2940011520709 and enjoy this great video to celebrate the day.
Bye!
Mom has told me some intersting things about her, and one thing that amused me was that she was very superstitious. Oh, some of the stories I heard. Like how she had Granddaddy get rid of all her hens because one was crowing and a crowing hen is bad luck, so she got rid of them all just to be sure. Or the time she made him dig up a cedar tree because of the old wives tale that if you plant a cedar tree you'll die once it's big enough to cover your grave.
They say people were more superstitious in that day. Perhaps so. I can tell you one thing - it's not a trait I inherited. In fact, I'm not superstitious at all. I'm not saying that I don't believe in spirits and the like. I'm just saying that they don't bother me much and frankly, I don't put much stock in it. I mean, isn't it supposed to be supernatural and spooky because it doesn't happen much? If ghosts knocked crap off the counters all the time, we wouldn't worry about it.
There's also the fact that I've managed to debunk a number of those superstitions and old wives tales since we moved out here. For example, if you chop a snake in half, it doesn't writhe until nightfall. Quite the contrary, if your husband hacks at it with an ax, that sucker isn't moving at all. It's an ugly, bloody mess. What's spooky is that something came and carried it off overnight. Ew. Methinks our wildlife does not have a refined palate.
Likewise, owls hoot without regard to anything. They don't get the paper or read the obituaries and they have absolutely no way of knowing if somebody you know is about to die. They hoot because they're there and that's what they do. And they won't stop if you turn your pillow over, either. They don't know you did it and frankly, they don't care. A train whistle two miles away, though, will shut those suckers up faster than anything. And they also can't see well. I learned this in a college psychology class, but my brother confirmed it when he saw an owl fly head first into an oak tree in his back yard. The owl was quite startled, and had absolutely no messages from "the other side." Stephen wasn't sure if the owl even knew where it was at for a while.
Ladybugs in your house don't bode much for luck, but it means that you need to close the door or patch the hole. And they are helpful in the rose garden, as they eat the buggers that do kill plants.
Cats do not have nine lives, or at least getting hit by a truck pretty much takes all of them at once.
Crows cawing in your yard and raising hell don't mean death is coming. It means there's a raptor is nearby. I don't know why, but if crows see a raptor, they surround it and scream at it. I guess they figure raising hell will annoy them enough to go away.
That sound outside at night is not the boogeyman. It's likely raccoons. Or perhaps opossums. And opossums really do play dead. Just don't mess with them. They can get visious and it's just not worth it. They'll revive and be on their way shortly.
And in closing, we decided that if you plant a cedar tree then you probably will die when it gets tall enough for the shadow to cover your grave because by then you'll be old. So there may be a reason for that one.
Happy Halloween everybody! Have fun and stay safe out there. Don't forget to check out my FREE Halloween themed long story, Resonance, at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/88653 or at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/resonance-sherri-fulmer-moorer/1106547585?ean=2940011520709 and enjoy this great video to celebrate the day.
Bye!
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