I GOT THE CAYENNE PEPPER BLUES - 8/12/20


I GOT THE CAYENNE PEPPER BLUES

BY: PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi

 

On Monday during my morning walk a car pulled up beside me and lowered their window. “I hear that you’ve got squirrel and raccoon troubles,” they said. I said, “Yes, I do!” They said, “Do what I do.  Put some cayenne pepper in your sunflower seeds and they’ll stay away.”  I said, “I’ve been so down about squirrels and raccoons that I just had to give it a rest.”  They laughed and they drove away. But, when I got home and saw my poor birdies come to my feeders and finding nothing there, I thought to my self – “You can’t starve your birdies just because of some squirrels and raccoons!”  So, I dug in my spice cabinet and pulled out the “hot stuff” – yes, I mean the cayenne pepper and I measured out a good portion into my sunflower seeds.  As I poured the seeds into the feeders it caused a little stir of air to puff up from the inside of the feeder that brought tears to my eyes.  That’s right - it gave me “The Cayenne Pepper Blues.”  As I blinked it only got worse and the tears flowed trying to wash out the heat from those smokin’ hot red peppers!  And, I got sad, I mean really sad about what the squirrels and raccoons had been doing to me.  And I asked the Lord, “Lord, did this pepper get in my eyes so I would get a taste of what I was doing to the critters or was it so I could write a blues song since Senatobia is now part of the Blues Trail?”  As I washed my eyes with cool water I had a few moments to reflect on that and I decided I needed a blues song to sing when those squirrels and raccoons get me really down. I told the Lord that I was sorry if the critters didn’t like the pepper in the seeds, but they had brought it on themselves.  I had done my best to “be at peace with them” – just like the Good Book says, but they had torn up my bird feeders and muddied up the bird’s bathing water and that was carrying things just too far for me.  So I filled all the feeders with sunflower seeds and raging hot pepper and now I’m working on my song. I might even have to learn a few guitar chords too. WikiHow.com says that to write the blues you “have to cover a wide range of emotions expressed in song whose lyrics speak of injustice or expressing a longing for a better life” and all of this injustice and longing leaves you “feeling really blue.” So I thought about what has happened to me and I realized that the squirrels and raccoons have not treated me fairly and I have been longing for a better life without them varmints and all these emotions have left me feeling “blue”.  So to stir my creativity I have been listening to blues music and absorbing the lyrics and the blues beat into my being and letting everything I feel flow out of me until I have felt “blue”.  So if you text me or call me and I don’t answer this next week it’s because I’m working on my song – my “hot” new blues song….”The Cayenne Pepper Blues.” My photos may be viewed & “LIKED” on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest - “Birdie of Mississippi”. E-mail: birdieofmississippi@gmail.com - Read my Blog @ http://www.birdieofmississippi.blogspot.com

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