. . .dressed up as Tom Brady today! Not all that surprising that someone in the neighborhood is a Pat’s fan (I don’t know anyone on the Island rooting for the Giants), but finding an owl-sized helmet? Priceless.

The mystery neighbor even taped the ears to the plastic owl “horns” so they’ll stand up to the wind and rain, and took away the summer costume of a child’s yellow sun dress and flower garland. Nice job!

Owl Baby!

The Kitteredge Brook Rd. Social Capital Owl has a long history; ten years ago I cut down a few small spruce out by the road and left one slender, straight trunk thinking I’d put a bird house there someday. (Spruce is a fast-growing tree here, and if you don’t get them young well, I have a few 70 footers in the garden already from that kind of wishful thinking.)  While I was pondering whether a bird house would be a good idea or not (cats? traffic?) someone came along and nailed a plastic owl to the top.

Not long after that, the owl sported a pair of child’s sunglasses and a very faded lime green bikini. As summer passed into fall a tiny straw hat appeared, a Common Ground Fair t-shirt (with an encore every year after the fair in September), a Halloween costume (my favorite was the pirate outfit complete with tiny parrot), and a Santa hat and wreath. When our son graduated high school the owl sported a tiny mortar board and tassel. Sometimes I go out and retrieve a decoration that is out of season or falling apart, but all the donations are anonymous – even furtive.

My personal feeling is that the good old days were anything but, and that social capital as a concept in modern society reflects nothing but wishful thinking by the formerly powerful and well-connected. I will admit, however, that it has worked wonders on a plastic owl.

The writer at Beyond the Dooryard is seeing the same snow out her windows over on Frenchman’s Hill. And although (or perhaps because) she has little ones, she has already finished her first post for the day. My child is all grown up and away so I’ve actually had a chance to read and be fascinated by her morning links. Then I decided to join in the fun.

Cherie and I both work in philanthropy, so she’ll be happy to know that I’m reading in our field. This is Abe Saur’s article on funding wound care and exorcisms in post-disaster Haiti. It has inspired me to practice a little voodoo of my own, in terms of letter-writing.

Thanks, Cherie!

. . .and the Fedco Tree Catalog is here! I had promised myself I wouldn’t even look at the fruit trees because THERE IS NO MORE ROOM, but the Klehm’s Improved Betchtel is incredibly tempting.

The Common Ground Fair was held this weekend in Unity and someone dressed the owl in a brand new t-shirt. Thanks, guys! And we hope it was a great time for all.

While we were closing up the greenhouse and moving piles of branches an anonymous neighbor dressed the Social Capital Owl for the occasion. We really like the goggles.

. . . with his little friends.

Have you read “Bowling Alone”? I’ve had to. And for all the precious white-man’s-nostalgia that fills hundreds of pages of that book and many others, social capital has never been a positive aspect of society for me. The people who yearn for the days when everyone in town knew their middle name were never teenagers in that town. They never had their first boy or their first drunk obsessively reviewed and painstakingly remembered by the entire populace.  None of those people (I’m looking at you, Dr. Putnam) ever question why their ancestors, neck deep in social capital, gave it some distance as soon as they could move West. And they also leave out the fun stuff.

Five years ago I took down a few young spruce out by the road and left a tall stump, stripped of branches, to put up a birdhouse. Before I could get to that step someone came by and nailed a plastic owl – the kind you use to scare off pigeons from your gingerbread – to the top of the stump. Ever since anonymous owl-lovers have decorated the plastic statue for every holiday. Bunny ears are followed by patriotic bunting, then plastic harvest flowers from WalMart, a Halloween costume (the pirate get-up with miniature parrot was a nice touch) and finally a wreath, Santa hat and red glass ornaments that generally last until the bunny ears come round again. He wore a tiny mortarboard for our son’s high school graduation and occasionally dons sunglasses at the height of summer.

Last night I came home to find the owl wearing a pumpkin head, and tonight I went out and added the wig. If the VeggieTales made horror movies (and they should) this would be The Bride of Punkinhead.

When you have real social capital, you can collectively and anonymously make a joke. That’s probably the real test of the concept – can you decorate the local lawn art and not be charged with vandalism? If your neighbor came on your property for the express purpose of putting sunglasses on your owl, would you call it trespassing? If not, you’ve probably got a nice little block party in store. Load up on cider and call everybody  over – it’s a good thing.