Subject: One more Thanksgiving

Yesterday was the third Thanksgiving since the Moorpark Acorn started publication. was a little worried that I mighend up repeating myself but, luckily, life intervened, so here we goOf course, I’m always thankful for the joy that my kids bring me, good health, just living to another Thanksgiving, and wellthe usual things that most of us are thankful for.

Also, I’m thankful that the firefighters again stopped the fire before it burned the house down, which is also threatening to become a yearly event. Last but not least, I nevewould have amounted to much if it hadn’t been for my wife who has stood by me all these yearsalthough I’m sure that nevehaving a gun in the house althese years didn’t hurt my chances any.

I suppose that a lot of us give thanks for things that others might not find important and vice versa. I suppose that this comes from the different ways that we see the world around usAs an illustration, this yeaI’m also thankful that no aliens—the outer space type, nothe across the border type— have landed here in MoorparkI’ll tell you why. A couple of weeks ago, jusbefore we had the rains, I was out in the back yard, just a little after dusk. As I looked toward the western heavens on this particular night, I saw a bright lighthat appeared to dim and then shoot off to the left, only to dim again and shoot back to the right. It was unlike anything had seen before. I was becoming quite concerned. Was it a flying saucer, a real UFO? As I watched the spectacle, I told myself thathere had to be a scientific explanation for this. I caught my breath and began a logicacourse of inquiry. Once I calmed down, I remembered that it was overcasthat night. I also remembered

that Venus was the Evening StarI decided that the optical illusion was caused by the fact that the cloud cover was not solid. As the clouds passed over, little openings in the cloud cover would expose Venus, then the clouds would cover Venus up while at the same time exposing another star located to the right of Venus. This gave the effect of motion between the two stationary objects.

For a moment, I was relieved, but then I thought, what if there was no other star up there. Again, my mind started to race; I needed more evidence.

I rushed into the house and headed directly for the kitchen. I threw open the refrigerator door and heaved a sigh of relief when I saw that there were still 11 beers left over from the pack of 12 we had bought a few days earlier. This proved that I was at least 10 beers away from a sighting and at least a half a case away from a true abduction. I was satisfied that I had arrived at a logical explanation for what I had just seen.

All of this was the result of an overactive imagination and a cloudy sky, just a few nights after watching “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” on television.

On the one hand, it was a little unnerving, but on the other, it shows how a little thought will always lead one to the correct answer. Although, once the sky cleared, I noticed that there was no star to the right of Venus. So, it wasn’t a star; it must have been an airplane.

Anyway, on Thanksgiving, I was thankful that no other worldly beings landed here in Moorpark. I was not quite as thankful for some rotten kids who burned the circles in the field behind my house a couple of weeks ago.