Power Stabilized

The Howlers

I took this picture at Monteverde last fall of a contemplative howler monkey. These guys really do howl, often in the early morning hours--at least around my house here on the coast of Costa Rica. I don't mind them, though, because they serve as such a nice reminder as I awake that Toto and I aren't in Kansas anymore. Actually I don't have a Toto; I have a JMack, my black cat, so named for the first letters in the names of my daughter's family of five. The 'y' is gratuitous. I relate to these monkeys because I too would like to howl sometimes, but decorum and the close proximity of the neightbors prevent me. I wanted to howl, for example, when `I couldn't get this blog up before the Friday deadline. My error or an online glitch, whatever the reason, I spent too much time trying to make it work and ended up much too frustrated to be healthy, There are, of course, much more serious things to howl about in the world. The Ukraine comes to mind. But if you need a good howl and just can't figure out how to do it [maybe in the bathroom with the door locked?], think of the howler monkeys here with me and know that they are howling for us all.