Cliché Month: Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Can you see that smug little grin on that sneaky raccoon’s face? He knows he tricked the dog into thinking he’s treed, but I’m sure the chase will be back on again shortly.
If you’ve ever put all your energy into a goal or project and suddenly realized you were far off base, you have experienced barking up the wrong tree. But don’t worry because you’re in good company. Humans, and even their four-legged hunting companions, have been doing that very thing for centuries.
The Frontier Origins…
The phrase “barking up the wrong tree” is a uniquely American phrase born on the early 1800s frontier. Settlers at the time relied on trained hounds to hunt raccoons at night. When cornered, a raccoon’s go-to defense was to scurry up a tree to get away from the chase. The dogs would then surround the trunk and bark furiously—a behavior known as “treeing”—to signal the hunter.
Raccoons, though, are super clever. A smart raccoon would often climb one tree and leap through the upper canopy into a neighboring tree. From there, it could sneakily slip away while the eager hounds would be left at the base of the first tree. Their noisy barking at a completely empty tree was just the distraction needed for the critter to get away before the hunters arrived. (Sneaky little smirking things. 😏)
I think I was about 14 years old the one and only time I went hunting for raccoons with my dad when we lived in Kansas. I only remember three things about it: it was too early in the morning and super dark outside, it was freezing and wet, and my little brother Jason was adorable when he would say, “We gon go coo hun” in his cute 4-year-old voice. Oh, and I remember the big gray Weimaraner he took hunting with us, but I don’t recall if he ever treed any raccoons.
Beyond the Hunt…
It didn’t take long for the phrase to move from describing a factual event between dogs and raccoons to becoming a statement about anyone in pursuit of an illusion. By the 1830s, the phrase leaped into popular print as a shortcut for misdirected energy, mistaken accusations or assumptions, or chasing a false lead. A person didn’t have to be running from a pursuit to confront a pursuer with a firm rejection and the notice that, if they thought they would get their way, they were barking up the wrong tree.
Barking Up the Right Tree…
Many years ago, a visiting young minister used the song “Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones to illustrate the search for real satisfaction. He talked of how the songwriter had experienced fame and fortune and tried who knows how many diversions, and yet sang about trying over and over to be satisfied without ever getting there. Many of us exhaust ourselves barking up all kinds of worldly trees—status, approval, material success—only to find they leave us empty-handed.
In Isaiah 55:1-2, the prophet calls out to the unsatisfied who are barking up all the wrong trees. He calls them to a free and satisfying feast and then asks them to look at the real value of what they have been spending their money on and their work accumulating.
Isaiah 55:1-2 BSB
[1] “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
[2] Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/isa.55.1-2.BSB
When we change our focus from the empty branches and look to The God and Creator who knows our true needs, we can feast on those things that truly satisfy. We can stop wasting our time barking up the wrong trees and instead bark up the True Vine and receive fruit from The Tree of Life. 🌳🧬
Share this post on:
🎭How The West Was Lost—Or, Pure As The Driven Smog (Part 3–Finale!)
And here we are for the grand finale wrap of my short tenure as a teen actress in LA. (Yes, the San Fernando Valley is still considered LA. Lol 😂)
Recap
- I started as a New York newspaper boy with my long hair tucked up into a beret and a bulky scarf to hide part of my feminine face.
- Costume change two put me in raggedy orphan clothes just after we’d been rescued by a kind-hearted benefactor.
- Costume change three was like the scene above where the Irish nanny was getting the three orphans ready for bed. She had gotten us into clean night clothes and allowed us to dance around singing about living the “Life of Riley” in the song When My Ship Comes In. (Full chorus on yesterday’s post.) And within this scene, she also sang the light-hearted song “I’m Only a Shoplifter’s Daughter” which went something like…
Shoplifter’s Daughter Turned Nanny
I'm only a shoplifter's daughter,
My mother was one of the best.
Sometimes the cops almost caught her,
But somehow she always seemed blest.
One day she lifted a sable,
And wore it right out of the store.
Since that day she has been able...
To not have to work anymore.
Hers was a fine occupation,
She wanted to teach me the trade.
But to my sweet ma's consternation (guessing on this line),
I never could quite make the grade.
I’m pretty happy with remembering (after 45+ years) all but one line in a song I didn’t even sing in the play. And I’m thankful the poet in me was able to create a line with similar syllables and a close rhyme. 😁
The Torch Song (Tears on My Pillow)
Now you may be wondering about the guy peeking through the door. He was the one the nanny had a crush on. Butler? Assistant? Barrister? I’m not sure. But he was totally not interested in her, so she sat down in the corner to sing a song of lament and cry a bit. Of course, we orphans had no clue about what it meant to crush on a guy, and we definitely didn’t know what a manipulative, guilt-inducing torch song was. But you’ll get it by the end of the lyrics.
Tears, tears on my pillow.
Each tear I shed for you.
With a heart that is burning...
With yearning desire.
But with tears like a rainstorm,
To put out the fire.
Some day when it's over,
I hope you'll know it's true.
When they tell you I died,
Please remember I cried...
All those tears on my pillow—
For you!
And on that last “you,” she noticed him in the door getting ready to burst in and repeated it until it came out a little bit angrier.
Mr Crush (I cannot remember his name or his character’s name) shouted that she had to get the kids dressed and packed because they thought they found our father or uncle or some family member we had to go see.
More Costume Changes
- Costume change four was back to the newspaper boy that opened the play in my first post. Only this time, I don’t recall what the headlines were. I think something about orphans finding a long-lost relative.
- Costume change five had me back in day clothes to go with my orphan sisters to find our lost relative.
- Costume change six was likely back to the newspaper boy again, but I’m not absolutely sure how many times I did the little herald. I’m sure it was mostly for the moments the actors needed to get new props and people onto the stage.
- Costume change seven was the final and most complete change. There was no going back to any other costumes because it required me to paint my hair black (my first time using colored hair spray) and slather any visible skin with reddish-brown pancake makeup. This transformed me into an old Indian woman. (I don’t ever recall the word indigenous back in those days.)
And this brought me to my final line in the play…
“Ugh, come, we go. Old man sick. Not long he go Happy Hunting Ground.”
I don’t remember who the old man was other than him being someone who knew who the orphans really belonged to. They may have been children of someone related to the rich and fancy Astorbilts, or maybe to deceased parents who weren’t part of any fancy family.
But I’m pretty sure that the whole play ended on a bunch of happy notes, like the children moving to the mansion because their ship did come in. Maybe Mabel got the guy the nanny liked, and the nanny figured out someone else was interested in her.
Cue Exit Lighting
My age and lack of experience, or maybe being so busy with my own parts in the play, meant I didn’t actually get to watch the play, so the ending I remember best was coming out on stage with the whole cast and doing a group bow to the audience.
We repeated that whole experience multiple times. Maybe once a week or maybe more, and I think for 8-12 weeks. It was definitely more fun at the beginning than at the end when the newness wore off and the crowds got too small. I vaguely recall hearing that Jim and Teddy were trying to sell the entire showcase, actors and all, to an investor, but that was way, way above my head then.
It never got picked up, and soon all the actors found new stages and movies. Me, I enrolled in a trade school to become an administrative assistant (because the school told me I could be “more than a secretary”), and I stayed there until I got a chance to travel with a company selling an all-purpose cleaner called Show Off. That’s a whole adventure for another day, though.
No More Acting
The experience taught me that acting is hard work far beyond memorizing lines in a script. And it taught me that actors behind the scenes like to self-medicate—or at least the young ones in this production. I tried very hard to stay away from the temptations, and they tried everything to get me to give in, including trapping me between two people in a sealed up car while they smoked and tried to give me a “contact high.”
I didn’t let myself get in that type of precarious position again, and it wasn’t right to try so hard to assuage their own guilt by not letting my no be no. But we were all young, and that’s just part of the experience of learning boundaries. I’ve prayed for all of them even without remembering most of their names. And I’m thankful that the glitz and glamour I thought was acting was not everything I imagined, so I was free to go the directions God picked out for me in this life.
If you aren’t sure where your steps should go, please consider allowing The Lord to guide your steps according to His good plans for you. I can tell you from experience, God’s way IS the High Way!
Proverbs 16:9 BSB
[9] A man’s heart plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/pro.16.9.BSB
Psalm 37:23 BSB
[23] The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord who takes delight in his journey.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.37.23.BSB
Jeremiah 10:23 BSB
[23] I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/jer.10.23.BSB
Share this post on:
Psalm 12 Written in Haiku
I love writing haiku. It’s actually how I journal my day every night. It keeps me focused on short, rhythmic bursts of thought, and the meter is relaxing to me. I have learned about the “correct” use and meaning of haiku, with its nature words and less rigorous syllable count, but for the purposes of my haiku writing, I prefer to focus on the Americanized syllable structure (5-7-5) I learned back in elementary school.
Psalm 12 was the chapter used in my current Bible study called “The Full Story_____From the Beginning to the Amen” by The Bible Project. So here it is condensed into simple haiku verses.
A Psalm of David,
To the choir director.
A song of lament.
1.
I need Your help, Lord.
The loyal have disappeared,
From the human race.
2.
They all keep lying.;
Speaking with flattering lips,
And deceptive hearts.
3.
I'm praying to God,
To cut off the boastful tongues,
And the lying lips.
4.
They claim false power.
They reject God as Master.
And claim the control.
5.
But devastation,
Has caught God's attention, and...
He hears the groanings.
The poor and needy,
Cry out, and God rises up.
He provides safety.
6.
The Lord's words are pure.
They've been refined like silver.
Extra purified.
7.
You, Lord, will guard us.
You protect us forever,
From evil attacks.
8.
Though the wicked prowl,
And the human race exalts...
The worthless wicked.
See, I read this AND listened to it. But I didn’t really hear the pain in King David’s heart until I began to write the words myself. Now, I’m seeing him cry out in verse and begging God to see what men are doing to each other and fix it. I don’t know if he was king when he wrote this, but he obviously felt powerless to change things himself. His hopes were likely dashed because, not only were there wicked and evil men doing harm to each other, but the general populace were praising the wicked instead of holding them accountable.
Sadly, it sounds like much of the world right now. People take power that was never meant for mankind, like deciding what is good or evil based on their own desires, and they reject the wisdom of The One who created all life and wrote the owner’s manual. Our Creator chose how life would form in the womb when we were fearfully and wonderfully made. He even chose that life would form sometimes in less-than-ideal situations. But He asks us to trust that He knows best and has a plan for our good no matter what it looks like at that moment.
But after that life has begun to form, some people take the position of thinking that because they can control it, they should control it. They will snuff out that life because it doesn’t line up with what they think their future desires will be. And, they will find professionals to help them kill the innocent child because somehow, that murder helps their bottom line. And all the ignorant will celebrate the “freedom” obtained by the death without realizing the deeper bondage the death will bring to all who helped make it happen.
Proverbs 14;12 (WEB) says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death.” And that tells us how much we need to trust the wisdom in Proverbs 3:7-8 (WEB) “Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil. It will be health to your body, and nourishment to your bones.” Though the words in Proverbs are not promises, they are the more likely scenarios.
Share this post on:
My Latest Flickr Photos
Others’ Posts I’ve Liked
Crystal Writes A Blog 