Mable and Jenny were having a cup of
coffee together while their children were playing, tumbling about the
small house.
"Do you ever get to feeling we are
missing something?" Mable reached for another piece of the carrot
cake in front of her.
"You mean like what?" Jenny
already knew of what she spoke. Winter days of little sunlight in
January seemed to be doing its slow wear on their normally joyful
outlook on life.
"Oh, I don't know," she
shrugged as she reached over to wipe the runny nose of her youngest
child. "Seems to me I should be thankful, nothing is really bad
enough to complain about." The young mother looked out through the
window toward the bleak cold wintry day, resting all about like a larger
than life sleeping monster just ready to break out into a screaming fit
of rain and bitter winds.
Jenny wanted to console the young woman,
"It's just this weather. I think they call it cabin fever. This
month is bred into our genetic structure, it's January, let down from
all the madness from the month before.
Mabel reached up to her hair and was
combing her fingers through it and twisted it up into a loose knot while
she fished around in her purse looking for a clamp to hold it there. She
was a pretty young woman but the circumstances of boring repetitive
chores; yet leisure was wearing upon her. "I just get to feeling
sometimes there is absolutely no answer to some problems," she
muttered and was a little ashamed for the complaint she was about to
voice.
"Like what problems?" her
friend wanted to know.
"Well, this sounds so silly,"
she went on, "but I have been trying to teach the children to hang
their coats up. It seems like an endless point of nag, nag, nag. Not
only do they not do it and I always end up going around my little living
room picking them up, searching for a hanger in the closet and then
going to each of their rooms to hang them in their closet. It is no big
deal, it is just I feel they should learn to do it for themselves, but
when? How long will I need to try? It is such a small thing and who
wants to punish a child over such a trivial matter. On the other hand if
they don't do it, the clutter of the coats is just one more chore I have
to do. It seems every time I look around there are their coats and caps
all over the front room. These houses are so small it doesn't take much
to clutter them up.
Jenny was sympathetic to her friend's
complaint and was trying to lift her spirits with trivial comments,
"Well, we could be worried if we were going to make the fox hunt
this week end, or maybe the governor's ball, or possibly if we could
even catch the miserable little animal.
"What animal?" Mabel was
confused.
"The fox, You know," Jenny had
to laugh at Mabel's state of near exasperation toward her friends
wandering about mentally of fox hunts and governor's association.
Jenny was doodling as usual on the napkin
in front of her and took this opportunity to sketch out a wild looking
little fox. She had him setting back on his haunches, ears standing
straight up and tail in a straight up position also. His overly large
eye was looking sideways with a fearful distrusting stare
"Hum-m-m," she thought. "Catch a fox?"
"Look Mabel, look at this little
fella. I believe if we cut him out of wood, his tail and ears would make
a great place to hang a coat."
Mabel was looking with interest at the
little creature. "You are so artsy craftsy, you could probably do
it." she raised an eyebrow.
"We can do it," Jenny told her,
and so they did. From the day the little foxes were lined up on the wall
beside and behind the front door they were always having a cap dangling
off one ear, or a mitten string off their pointed noses, or a coat off a
standing up, bushy, but straight tail.
It is such a fun thing to tell children,
"Catch a fox!" and have them eagerly run to toss their cap
over the hanger shaped like a fox, and then catch him again with their
coat. It is even better to have the child run to you and say, "I
caught a fox."
Materials you will need:
A one by ten board
A pattern of a fox. If you can not draw
find someone who can and watch them while they get what you want. Have
the artist mark the lines of the eyes, the tail, and the haunches or
what ever lines to make the fox recognizable and to tell you what color
to make what. Use a heavy brown paper bag for the pattern or light
cardboard as in a used up cereal box. Our foxes are twelve inches high
and about nine inches across at the base where his feet make two more
hangers.
Trace the outline of the fox on the
board, and if you do not have a scroll saw find a retired gentleman in
the neighborhood who will allow you to pay him to do the job. Use one
pattern so all the foxes are alike.
Use colored pencils to color in the lines
just like you would do in a coloring book. You may have to use white
acrylic for the eyes and for the tip of the tail. Spray with a coat of
varnish or clear plastic.
With a screw gun attach a one by six to
the wall after you have painted it. Find the studs first for a secure
attachment. In measured distances use a screw gun also to attach the
foxes to the one by six. |