Why Is My Rooftop So Weird?

  Son went up to do a bit of "spring cleaning" on the rooftop.  Once a year, he climbs up on both the shed and the house roofs and sweeps off all of the accumulated leaves and pine straw.  This bit of cleanup was my job before he decided that I was probably a bit too old to be clamoring around on the housetop.  It did not bother me as the shed roof is a gentle slope and the part of the house where the leaves amass is also a bit flatter than the steep pitch of the main house.  Still, I was ever so happy to hand over my broom as long as he does not keep it as that would not fly..hehe!  (Just kidding...I think.)  

  Being as this is an annual thing, I never think much about it but last year (in April), he swept the house roof and made a weird find.  Under the leaves, he saw a slight glimmer and when he investigated, he found our old filleting knife.  This was one that we kept on the pier.  It was old and rusty and only used to cut bait.  How it came to rest upon the housetop is still a mystery.  He assumed that perhaps an osprey or other large bird carried it there.  The idea is plausible...I guess.  

  Today, he did the rooftop spring cleaning a bit earlier since we have had so much rain.  He figured that the soggy leaves accumulating on the roof was not a good idea so up he went to sweep (or shove, as the case was).  While clearing the same spot where he found the knife last year, he found another mystery.  A short length of pipe was under the leaves.  When he brought it down, I instantly recognized it.  This was a piece of an old metal arbor that I had used as a decoration at the local elementary school some twenty five years ago! Why was that up there?  How did it get there?  Why was it still around here in the first place?  The pipe is about the same length as the filleting knife so is there some sort of connection?  Again...we have no answers to any of these and many more questions.  Is our packrat of a bird still toting off strange items?  Is there some critter intent on presenting us with odd gifts?  Why is my rooftop so weird that it collects oddities that should not be there?  The answers may never be known. Mysteries abound on the Bayou!

Folklore...Brooms, Sweeping and Spiders!

  Throughout the years, I have be admonished by countless older folks for my sweeping habits.  I admit that I do not keep the tidiest of houses but, in all fairness, the scoldings were never about cleanliness.  I was reprimanded because of a bunch of old wives' tales that, somehow, have stuck around through the ages.  Not that any of it mattered as I find the beliefs amusing, at best.  

  1.  "Do not sweep dirt out the front door after dark!  You will be sweeping away a friendship!"

  2.  "Never sweep after dusk or you will have a stranger knocking at your door within the hour!"

   3.  "Always sweep dirt OUT the back door but use a dustpan to sweep the dirt toward the inside at the front door.  If you do it the opposite direction, you will be "sweeping" away any money that you made during the day!"

  4.  "Never step over a fallen broom as it will bring bad luck!  To bring good luck, pick up the broom and stand it upside-down!"

  5.  "Stand a broom upside-down and you will be married before the year is out!"

  6.  "If you are sweeping and someone tracks in more dirt, never beat them with your broom or you will be in jail before the week is done!"

  Ok, so several of these are more broom-related than the actual sweeping but you get the idea that I have heard a lot about my housekeeping skills.  I won't even go into the comments about dog and cat hair on the furniture.  (Hey, I have critters.  Don't like it...go home.)  

  This evening, when I was sweeping out the entry way (yes, after dark and sweeping outward not inward), I noticed a slight movement near the doormat.  This was an indoor mat so I was curious as to what was creepy-crawling inside my house. Dropping to my knees, a spider stopped to say hello!  A cute, albeit large (for this type) jumping spider greeted me and convinced me to stop my cleaning.  My very own idea says to leave spiders in the house and never squish them!  There are only a few spiders that I will actually kill.  Brown recluses and those of the widows are on that list.  I deem all others as friends that keep the pests at bay.  With all of the folklore attached to brooms and sweeping, I had to giggle that a jumping spider may have just saved me from being cursed!

  As for the aforementioned admonishments...1.  I sweep any time dirt is on the floor.  2.  Strangers (and most others) are afraid to come to the Bayou after dark.  3.  Money is not of too much importance to me.  4.  Commonsense..Stepping over a fallen broom is asking for an accident...pick it up, for goodness sake!  5.  I am already married so right side up or upside down does not matter.  6.  Beating someone with a broom is never a good idea.  Just don't do it no matter how tempted you are!

  Now a bit of folklore about spiders!  If a spider is in your house, you should never, EVER kill it!  Spiders are associated with wealth and killing it will negate the promise of good fortune.  If it is an absolute must to kill the spider, then you must beg its forgiveness prior to smashing the critter.  So forget about smacking that spider with your broom!  In fact, NEVER sweep that spider out the front door after dark with a fallen broom that you have stepped over in the process of running away from said spider!  Leave it be as it may bring untold wealth!

Sweeping the (Forest) Floor!

  I will say this about the weather on the Bayou, as of late.  It has been windy!  In fact, it has been windy and rainy for almost six months now.  Only a few days each month are sunny.  This is ok by me, however, as I am always up for a bit of rain.  The wind goes along with it so I accept that as well.  It is true that complaining about the weather has never changed it, so I say just go with what you are given.  No problems.

  While out behind the greenhouse this afternoon, a light swishing noise caught my attention.  What in the world could that be??  It reminded me of a broom being used to clean the floor.  Standing still, the sound led me to the source. Yep.  It pretty much was a broom sweeping the floor.  A branch of a yaupon shrub was being flung back and forth by the wind.  As it was bouncing around, it was doing a fine job of sweeping the forest floor.  A wide path was devoid of any fallen leaves!

  The wind once was, at one time,  a significant source of power for so many things but now has been replaced with more convenient methods.  The sweeping motion of the branch brought thoughts of how windmills and sails make use of this free energy source.  Folks used to use ingenuity and make use of what was on hand but those days have gone the wayside.  Now, let there be one short power outage and people are in a tizzy.  Sometimes, I think the times without all of our modern day conveniences was a lot better.  We are all spoiled and perhaps a bit lazy.  Maybe this branch was trying to tell me to get busy and rake the leaves.