Cheryl

"Talked to the Indian guy this morning. He is such a great guy. He even gardens around where he fishes, him and the Romanian fisherman. Rake, cleanup, even filled abandoned holes of ground squirrels with dirt. They love him in the office. I tell him he is a great man. So he had me sit down on the wood bench in the sunshine overlooking the placid lake and hills in the distance. He had been feeding the ducks, pigeons, blackbirds, squirrels and sparrows. We were talking about the beauty of the place. I said, "but in spite of it, I do everything from habit. I would not come out here if it was not habitual. I would get too spaced out."

He said he wakes up at four every morning. "I eat breakfast and am out the door by five. I get here at five-thirty. If the Romanian guy gets here first he gets the fish. If I get here first I get the fish. My wife don't want me to go." "No." "So she is sleeping. I go anyway. I leave here at ten. When I get home she will still be sleeping. When she wakes up she asks me to get her a cup of tea. That I do. If she asks me if I went fishing I say no. I have been here all the time." I say, "Woman are inside men are outside." He says, "That's what we have to do. Then she gets up and fixes me something to eat. I go watch TV. What a life." I says, "She cooks for you?" And he said yea. "Does she do all he cooking?" "Yes." "Why is that?" "Because she is the woman and I am the man. "Does she like that?" "She is the woman. That's the way we do. I am Indian.

New guy been seeing around, his wife died just a few months ago. His thing is, he feeds the ducks. I told him it was illegal and he says they told him, but he don't care; he is going to feed them anyway. He does everyday. I found the new Muscovy Duck off toward the other side of the lake, away from where it has been staying for at least a month. I said what you doing over here, let him nibble my fingers and I stroked his feathers. So I ran into the new guy. He asked, "Did you see the Muscovy?" "The new one? yada, yada." I said yes and told him where. I wondered why he was there. He said he did it. He took him over to another Muscovy duck that has been there for years. He said the old guy was so happy to see the new Muscovy; came waddling over. "How you get him over there?" "With bread crumbs. He followed me all the way, my leading with a trail of bread crumbs". "Wow," I said, "That is amazing." "That old duck was so happy to see him". I said, "well he didn't stay. Now he is over by the bridge with the other two Muscovys. Lots of ducks there. Maybe he will get some friends if he stays there." "Yes I hope so too." "You sure are a good guy."

Talking to the Russian lady today. She comes out with her husband and sometimes a friend. Her husband doesn't talk. She says he won't talk to anyone, accept in Russian. They are from St. Petersburg. She was chemist. She is very talkative and bubbly. She likes to ask questions. He is tall and lanky. She is short and squat. Got into trouble last time I saw her, when I said I liked Putin. She said they hate Putin. They watch all the Russian news. Then she joined her husband who always goes on ahead. Was not sure if she was mad at me or not. Found them on a bench today. I said to them, "Rah-rah Putin." Got a big smile from her. She invited me to sit down. "Why do you like Putin?" "Because if it weren't for Putin, Russia would be a colony of the US, all that oil and minerals. That was one of Cheney's failed gambits. Gangsters run this country." "Gangsters are in every country," she said. "We lived in Russia. We know what hard times are." I said I know all about it. "It is so nice here how can you complain?" "Yes", I said, it is great. Can't beat this, but that doesn't mean that gangsters don't run America."

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