4 Things I Learned This Week--#71 (Bears, Twitter, Feet, Maids)

Black Bears

Over at Red Pine Mountain Mountain Woman did some research on black bears after having one visit her on her deck right outside the big windows during the night. Among the things she shared is that they don't like the smell of citronella and ammonia. To read about her visit with Black bear, here is a link to her tale: Mountain Woman Learns She Is a Coward. She kept me on the edge of my seat!

Popular Cat

Sockington the Cat, is famous as the Tweeting Cat with an army of 1.5 million followers on Twitter! (more than Tom Cruise). This was another free kibble trivia fact I learned this week. You can read more about him at 5 Things You Didn't Know About Stockington. Now our pets want Twitter accounts!

Feet Cramps

From the PLAIN DEALER this week, I learned that to prevent feet from getting cramps during the night, you can (1)stretch your calf muscles before going to bed, (2) stretch your toes by gently pulling them back toward you before going to bed, (3) wear socks to bed to keep your muscles warm, and (4) drink plenty of water through the day.

Rules For Being A Good Maid from The Help

I like reading historical fiction books because it's a fun way to learn things about history. I wish schools used historical fiction books to teach history instead of those history textbooks. It would have been much more interesting. Well, here is a short list that Minnie was taught from her mother about being a maid in The Help by Kathryn Stockton: 

1.    It is nobody's business.  Keep your nose out of your white lady's problems and do not share yours. Remember:  white people are not your friends.
 
2.    You don't ever let that white lady find you sitting on her toilet.
 
3.    When you cook white people's food, you taste it with a different spoon.

4.    You use the same cup, same fork, same plate every day.  Keep it in a separate cupboard and tell that white woman that's the one you'll use from here on out.
 
5.    You eat in the kitchen.  

6.    You don't hit on her children.  White people like to do their own spanking.

7.     No sass-mouthing. 

What really shocked me was that Mississippi was still following these rules in the 1960s! I had no idea.  The author grew up with a maid and wondered how the maid felt, so wrote a book about it.  This is her first novel and a best-seller for weeks.  It has over 2,000 customer reviews on Amazon!


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