Caroline Gerardo's Blog, page 24

NoDAPL Send Message

Can't afford travel to Cannonball North Dakota?
Mail empty water bottles to
Energy Transfer Partners LLC's attorney.
Please remove recycle label, or
send bottles that cannot be recycled for
cash

1735 Market Street Suite LLPhiladelphia, PA 19103 -7583
Energy Transfer Partnersattorney: Debbie Anne Cordero Carlos

























Want to drive on Highway 1806towards the protests? Cars are re-routedto keep the crowds down.
Consider this a message in a bottle.

Baths 5 Cents

\\Baths Five CentsWater off last night
When the river drys up you crave moregive up cheese for Lent, dream of cream.
Fortunately the weather is cooler.Fog in the morning for the rodeo.
Jackie is pregnant againPromise puppy photograph
Hadn't heard from him a monthtext arrives plans made and fail
Am I better off not missing  tub soaks to drain cares awayje crains la rivière nettoie votre chanson


Caroline Gerardo  Baths Five Cents Poem Copyright August 27, 2016

San Juan Midwife

Crucifix belonged to Polonia Montanez
San Juan Capistrano Midwife
The blister on her left hand bleeds on the slath. Rods and weavers form the crucifix constructed from willow and native grass. Doña Polonia Guiterrez Montanez (Canedo and Simard) waits for labor of the girl on the cot to hasten. Doña puts the cross in progress on the night table."I'm adding oak to the stove outside, I'll be right back.""Hurry before the next pain comes, I feel I will die." "He watches over us, pray to his mother Mary."Doña trims sprigs of black and blue cohosh from hemp string bunches of herbs. Flowers and leaves smash in a mortar. Herbs turn dark green mush. Then she carries the ball of moss to the fire outside. Add a log, and place the herbs into a iron pot hanging over the fire. Water bubbles in the blackness. It spits as the herbs dunk. Aroma of smoking sage fills the air. Doña allows the medicine to steep. She returns to the girl.Inside the girl's legs prop on the hammock. In the darkness her limbs are the color of roasted chestnut."Sit forward, I'll massage your back."As the girl  leans forward, Doña times stimulation of energy pathways with the return of the spasms. Doña hums. Her hands sand the sharpness of pain.
She sings the responsorial psalm, "Cuenten las Maravillas del Señor."
The girl screams."Don't waste energy. Let me see if it's time to push."The midwife pulls up the girl's gown. She holds the legs wide. The opening is the size of a silver dollar."Next contraction we push. Breathe now."The girl inhales with a whistling sound  through the gap in her front teeth. Doña brings the clean towels closer. She mops the brow of the Indian girl."Will the Padre take my baby?" Tears are in her eyes."No. We know what the soldier did." The wave of contraction returns. Doña props the girl upright to use gravity. "Make long good pushes. Don't yell or speak. Just pushing."The girl's face reddens. She grunts.
"A breath. Now push more. Almost."The girl leans back. She rests. In a minute the urge to push out the pain returns. The girl lifts up. With Doña's coaching the head comes out from the womb. Doña holds the neck of the baby as the girl relaxes before the next contraction. And it returns with force to push the shoulders, and a wet child is born. Doña cleans the infant's mouth and eyes. The girl, a child herself reaches out  to hold the baby. Doña places the baby on her chest."Let me put your son in a clean blanket. Let us pray in thanksgiving for a healthy child."As the two rest, Doña finishes the straw and willow crucifix. She hangs Christ upon the wall above and blesses herself.
Caroline Gerardocopyright August 20, 2016



Polonia was one of a few midwives at the San Juan Capistrano Mission. It is said she created rain from prayer during the drought. Oh how we could use such a talent today.  She taught the native children at the mission. This woman out lived four husbands ( Simard the last was a Medical Doctor who lived to 103) She practiced healing arts with native herbs.

Message to Bears

Replaceable

Replaceable
Clothes pinold thing fifty worth a pennywhy repair it?Pinch wire, line up splintered curvesand bring back spring uses far too many.
Light houseobsolete tower, narrow my dearwill pelicans nest?Rebuild carbon arc lampcan't find at Amazon, hire optical engineer

Poem and images copyright Caroline Gerardo on a hot August morning 16, 2016

Squirrel War

Shared first tomato from the ranch today.
Piggish to slice it into a salad.
Co-workers enjoy the peppery
heavenly joy of organic produce.
I did not work this hard to feed ingrates.

Included here are pretty photographs but the remains of this
post chronicles my war on squirrels who killed my baby
chickens. If you're squeamish, or you love fuzzy tails, or
want the second amendment appealed, don't read.
Almost eighty days in my new home
Compost piles cook, 17 tons of oak mulch is
disappearing as I wheelbarrow it in place,
hugelkultur shrinks with peppers climbing on top.
Invested hours of physical labor.


What God created grey ground squirrels?
I'm losing a war with rodents.
I'm not in Aleppo without food or water;
but it's harder than planned.

I purchased:
Haveaheart- zero results
what was I going to do with live angry pests?
After reading the instructions about drowning
them I gave the trap to my neighbor (3 miles down
the gravel road). He smiled about the battle.
Squirrelinator -the  male with striped panels
is able to open the door for his friends so they
can enter, enjoy a snack, relax in the shade, and exit.
Rat traps- 3 versions X 9 = no catches but one
empty jar of Skippy peanut butter
Wildlife Control Tube trap-
have reset the trigger nine times, last
time I didn't refill with peanuts as I think I
am feeding the offspring. Zero catches.
Airsoft gun, a Winchester one
I am able to hit a marshmallow on top of a can
at 90 yards BUT the creatures see the gun.
For hours I sat with a camo scarf over my head.
A cardboard wall in front hides my body.
Dark sweet Slemit cherries and peanuts wait in the
meadow.  Dam squirrels see me.
I upgraded my rifle to a better 12 gauge with
bird shot. Neighbor ranchers chuckle when I
hike up the mountain with the gun slung
on my back.
After practicing and becoming expert, I'm ready.
Buggers hide from the sound when I open the locked case.

The squirrels seem to rise at 11:00 AM and saunder home.
Rats with mink tails now work on more nests and get into
my attic.  They are asleep at 5:00. It's a leisurely life.
There are plenty of tomatoes, okra, eggplant and squash
to gobble up and bury for later.
This morning I leave the ranch early for the office.
There on the hood of my car a solid bushy tailed girl
stands upright eating a ripe tomato. I swear she flipped me off.

Don't suggest poison. Everyone says they are too smart, and
it will be the Great Pyrenees dogs that eat vile second hand.

How do I encourage Coopers Hawks and Red Tailed Hawks
to visit and stay?

Up-cycled Recovery

bird bath upcycled
Recovery

Bird Bath got holesname of the use goneTime for chrysalis.Woodpeckers hunt worms.Sparrows steal sunflower seeds.Add sand and compost toiron antique up-cycled succulent planter sprouts.Get back on your searchstretch those chicken wingsand fly sister.











Ivory Billed Woodpecker is Endangered there are a few out of range herewhere I live. Phil the water truck gentleman rescued one with a broken wing. Phil's a cowboy who looks like he played football.  He founda vet who coached him online how to care for this wild creature. The bird was released yesterday - never looked back.  We thought the bird would not make it to fly again.I contacted two endangered species birding groups without response. Wish I had taken pictures of Connie (we assumed female) Phil had her wrapped in newspaper and a cardboard box in the cab of his big yellow water rig truck. Bloody and in shock Connie had crazy eyesI found grubs in my garden. We fed her meal worms, baby chicken feed and chicken electrolyte water. The bugs wriggled in wet paper towels inside Kerr jars to give him to bring home. She didn't eat or drink for two days. Recovery was slow but she got stronger.The day we released Connie someone from this rehabilitation center called me back.
Copyright August 9 2016 Caroline Gerardopoem and images 

Saudade

Saudade missing ~ echoes of your footsteps gone ~ bees humming in heart. #haiku carolineauthorSaudade a Portuguese and Galician word for longing for someone or some past event that I was fond of which is now lost. It has closure. The object of missing may never return. The love that remains, and the love that stays after someone is gone. In love relationships we nurture and the other may leave out of balance. Our children we care for must go to find their destiny. When a dear one passes away the feeling as if they were calling us in the hour before we wake. 
Hold fragile shells for me.Caroline Gerardocopyright August 6 2016

Safe

view driving home of Roblar fire smokeSafe From the Roblar Fire.It's south of the ranch. Hundreds of Marinesand firemen dig barriers, drop retardant and water. 
We are in good hands.I'm unprepared. Need to weed wack larger perimeter. Need to practice fire drills,Need to place valuables in storage, but where is safe?Another disaster, terrorist attack, plume of smoke. Stop travelling?Stay away from crowds?Get a gun?Wear a bullet proof bubble?
Air quality is awful. Stink of burning trash,not the joyful smell of leaves in Fall.Smog sticks to clothing. Reminds of theInland Empire when smog was thickthey told children to stay indoors.No air conditioning in schools.The smell of kids sweating on linoleumdesks in a crowded classroom is closeto the aroma of air today.No sun drying laundry.No digging the rest of the chain linkfortress...

Invasive Thistle

She's staying.
Purple faces clay colored hills. She protects with thistle thorns. Machete to soil, she returns with a vast undersea tuber or spread seeds, she scorns. This cardoon swims on dust, as a desert pony trusts no one eats wild artichokes. She is Invasive pervasive
Poem and image Caroline Gerardo Copyright July  21, 2016