浦島太郎

從小就覺得自己是小貓, 跟在媽媽旁邊磨磨蹭蹭, 咪咪喵喵. 十分理直氣壯. 慈愛的母親也總是
縱容么女的天真無邪, 永遠都不覺得煩.

媽媽常說故事, "浦島太郎" --- 年幼的我似乎身在童話中炫麗的龍宮, 不勝豔羨地對 媽媽說, " 龜啊! 你家真漂亮!" 這童年往事至今仍令我倆回味無窮.

這次爸媽搬家後, 我還沒有機會到新家住過呢. 這回想必可以像浦島太郎一樣的在乙姬的家痛快的玩了.

attacked by ants

I have such a hard time to track down Max each night in the backyard.

He is so small. When he hides under the dry leaves, we just can't find him! Until couple weeks ago, I decide to put leash on him to keep track of his where about. ( see photo )


But he still out-smart me, he rubs his belly on the grass and escape. I give up and allow him to sleep outdoor at night. Thinking, " hey, if I can't find you, maybe the bad guys won't find you either" But one day Kalven found Max's injured leg was attacked by ants, the poor thing's leg is swollen and red. :( Poor Max shuts his eye ( and he only has one good eye ) due to the pain. He goes through so much.

Rinse the ants off his body. We decides to keep him indoor for a while. He still gets to soak in the tub daily and play in his box. Hope he gets stronger soon.

Sent mouse to Siberia 流放西伯利亞的滑鼠

My (sort of new) wireless mouse is acting up these couple days.

It has brand-new battery; so it is not hungry. The courser is at the right spot and the right click works fine. That tells me the optic detection is fine. Just the more frequently used left bottom ignore my request. Oh, yah. I reset the bottom on the blue tooth stick too.

Did a bit of research on the web. Some gigs post instruction on reconfigure the driver and other procedures way too complicated for me. So I give up and ask Kavlen for his advise. Even he told me the mouse is dead.

Before dumping the mouse, I recall the old trick I learned from my working days in electronic component industry. Since the circuit board is layered, the electronic connection might lost contact from heat generated on the surrounding board. It might be connected again by freeze it to create the contact again. I actually revived my old digital camera too.

So I send the injured mouse to Siberia, my freezer. Yes, it works again!

讀定風坡

【定風坡】 蘇軾
三月七日，沙湖道中遇雨。雨具先去，同行皆狼狽，余獨不覺。已而遂晴，故作此。

莫聽穿林打葉聲，何妨吟嘯且徐行。
竹杖芒鞋輕勝馬，誰怕？一蓑煙雨任平生。
料峭春風吹酒醒，微冷，山頭斜照卻相迎。
回首向來蕭瑟處，歸去，也無風雨也無晴。

東坡居士的才華一向為中國文人所仰慕崇拜. 但是他瀟灑達觀 、心不隨境轉的人生哲學才真是令我五體投地。在宗教的認同上，他是個佛教徒，他同意"剎那" "無常"的觀念; ( 像【水調歌頭】中的 "月有陰晴圓缺" ) 但是他卻不認同人生是苦海的說法. 他是隨遇而安, 自在悠然的. ( "同行皆狼狽，余獨不覺" )

他的灑脫自在建立在"無我"上. 不為外物功名所牽絆, 只求盡力而為, 問心無愧. 從" 回首向來蕭瑟處，歸去，也無風雨也無晴" 中是一個"空"字, 但此詞的境界沒有惆悵, 而是讓讀者從執著中出離.

Blackie amd opossum 7/4/09

Blackie surprises us today by visiting us in the morning. We haven't see him for a while since his eye injury. ( His eye looks better today! I think TienTien is helping him from up there! ) Might be animal's instinct, he sneaks in when it is dark outside. During the daytime, there are many competitors for his food. Little sparrows and big loud ravens stop by to pick at his food bowl. I was amazed to witness birds to eat dry cat food; but realized later that cat food is 80% corn meal anyway. Of course they will found it appealing! Therefore, lots of time, I put out the food after dinner. Hoping Blackie will get more to eat.

Then there is another problem. Opossum! The other night I heard noise outside my window. Thinking it was Blackie, I tiptoed to the window. Then I saw a big ugly opossum chewing Blackie's food as if I set it just for it. Not only the opossum stays put while it sees my face at the window. It didn't move even I shine the flashlight at its face! Kalven and I got upset at the moment and walk out the door to chase it off. It finally runs off the back.




We walked back to the kitchen. Kalven told me, " Maybe we shouldn't bother the opossum. It is a life too. We shouldn't discriminate base on how the animal looks. " He is so right. We love cats; because of we adore TienTien. However, the opossum has no way to choose what form it was born into. Just because its rat-like face, we want to repeal them whenever we see one.

Is that right? Will it be right for me to dislike a person because he or she is not good looking or have some forms of physical handicap? What makes it different between opossum and stray cat?

As a matter of fact, opossum is known for its superiority on caring for its youth. The baby opossums usually ride on mom's back to be moved from one place to the other. This ugly opossum could have a family somewhere waiting for it to return home.

Now I start to feel more and more about the Buddhism teaching of " being compassionate to all living creatures ". All living creatures have feelings. Carry the compassion toward all.

So we leave out food every day. No matter who eats the food. We feel we share with other creatures; and it bring happiness to us.

Getting to know the new home 7/2/09 新生訓練

I brought his Mobile Home to the west side of the bushes to let the sun in. He finally walked out hesitantly then quickly hide under the bushes next to it. I move the water basin next him and take him for a dip. He slowly sticks his head out and start to drink water. For couple big sips. Then he shoots out yellow urine to the water three times! (Different from the big brother's white stuff. ) He looks perk-up even still decides to hide under the shade. So I gather some dandelion leaves to put in front of him. He eats couple bits! In order to be on the good side of Timmy, I gave him a big piece of iceberg lettuce with Calcium powder. Big brother is happy.

new kid in town 6/30/09 新來的, 請多指教

I rescued/ adopted a small tortoise Monday night from my friend's church. This poor little guy was injured in a pond by vicious snapping turtle ( turtle with alligator sharp teeth ) and lost his right hind leg. Also his left eye is not able to see either. He was confined in a small metal cage. So I volunteer to take him home to live in my back yard. I feel like Urashima Taro (浦島太郎).

在朋友的教堂看到一個鏽跡斑駁的小鐵籠, 一碟水、兩顆草苺, 半塊空心樹幹. 不禁好奇地看看躲起來的是誰? 大概是小兔子吧? 想不到是隻小烏龜!

不忍看它被關著, 多事地建議讓小傢伙出來走走. 朋友才告訴我, 它的右後腳和左眼都被鱷龜咬傷了, 它不太能保護自己. 一把它放在草地上, 小傢伙驚慌失措, 偏著頭奮力以三隻腳往前爬 (右眼要觀察兩邊動靜), 只得拉長了脖子… 好可愛的小勇士. 朋友徵求牧師同意後讓我帶它回家.

Kalven也好高興我們能給它一自由安全的家. 願眾生” 無有眾苦, 但受諸樂” (緣起: 佛說阿彌陀經). 爸爸幫它取了名字, 大哥叫Timmy, 在2000到我們家, 已往生的小烏龜是Tomi (日本名字, 阿嬤賜名: 男孩兒是” 富”, 女孩兒是” 富子” à 夏目漱石的” 我是貓” 中也有個嬌生慣養的金田富子), 他將是 Max!