Library Notes
July 25, 2003
By Pansy Hundley, Librarian.
Are there as many mosquitoes at your house as there are at mine? Have they all been run over to my house? When I go outside, innocently, to water my gasping flowers, the mosquitoes almost run me back in the house.
I fully expect that one of these afternoon, or nights, when I’m mowing as fast as I can, they are going to knock me off the mower.
One day I put on "Off" three times and those suckers just kept on biting. These cannot be Texas skeeters, because Texas skeeters know that when a person puts on "Off:, they can’t bite ‘em. Probably came up from Mexico on a truck or Yankee skeeters that hitched a ride on a Yankee’s car, headed for the good ‘ole South; fried chicken and friendly people.
Every time I dash back in the house to save myself, I figure the only mosquito in Collin County with the West Nile Virus has just bitten me.
When I go out to the shed to get my mower out, in addition to all the skunk reconnaissance I must do, I think the skeeters yell "Here she comes. Get ready!" I think they live in my shed. And I don’t even have standing water around. Maybe the skunk gives ‘em a free ride on his back or something is the attraction. These are the kind that say "Shall we eat her here or take her to the swamp? No! We’ll eat her here. If we take her to the swamp the big ‘uns’ll get her!" So, if I come up missing, check the swamp.
Of course, when I lived in that foreign country of Oklahoma several years ago, the ticks did the very same thing. They had a look-out posted that let half the seed ticks in Choctaw County know I was stepping out the door. I must taste like strawberry ice cream. Of course, considering how many strawberries and strawberry sundaes that I have eaten in my eighteen years, that is a strong possibility.
So, I’m telling you, don’t send any of your skeeters over to my house. If you run low, I’ll let you have all you want. I’ll probably have as much luck giving them away as I do crickets when they arrive, in force, on the scene.
If I can manage to keep fighting these flying menaces off, I can continue to tell you about books. Right this minute, I am free of them. Course, I’m inside. But, let’s hurry and I’ll tell you about the one that’s all the rage right now, "Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix." Yep, got three brand-spanking new copies of it. So, good luck on getting your hands on one.
"There is a door at the end of a silent corridor. And it’s haunting Harry Potter’s dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?
Here are just a few things on Harry’s mind: A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey. A venomous, disgruntled house-elf Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The looming terror of the end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams.
……..and, of course, the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be Named. In the richest installment yet of this seven-part story, Harry is faced with the unreliability of the very government of the magical world and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.
Despite this (or perhaps because of it), he finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty; and unbearable sacrifice."