Always near the top of my Gratitude List is that I live where there is more nature than humanity.
One morning as my eyes opened I saw, on the stonewall at the far edge of the field a brown thing: a very big woodchuck. I know where along that wall his burrow door is, but I rarely see him. That morning he hopped from stone to stone and finally stood up to survey the field. He's a big successful woodchuck; his height seemed to be thirty inches or more.
Every weekday's first half-mile of my commute grants me my own view of wild animals living their natural lives.
A couple of weeks ago I surprised a whitetail mama and her just-old-enough-to-be-dry fawn. Not much more than two feet tall, the baby was a small square shape, not even old enough to have begun to get leggy. Good genes: The baby took off into the woods before mama did. More likely, Mom said, "Run!" and chose to stay for defensive action if necessary. I stopped the car and waited, and shortly after he was safely out of sight, she followed him.
More recently, a partridge stood in the ditch and calmly watched me pass.
This week's sightings have been great, and it's only Wednesday.
Two cottontails in the driveway (I stopped to wait until they felt that prudence dictated dispersal).
Two cottontails, crouched communing face to face in the middle of the road. (I stopped to wait until they finished their conversation.)
A brood of turkey chicks peep-peep-peeping single-file across the road. As they disappeared into the greenery, I stopped to listen to the hidden hen calling to them, a low cluck . . . cluck . . . cluck.
Two deer, then a little farther on, two more.
On Tuesday:
Two cottontails, again crouched communing face to face in the middle of the road. ("Oh no, here she comes again. TTYL.")
One very fast red squirrel, tiny and much more sparsely-furred than his gray cousins.
One deer mid-grand jete across the road.
Two chipmunks. Some days it's The Great Chipmunk Migration and the road is busy with 'munks on their way to anywhere else.
Five more deer scattering into the woods on either side of the road as I rounded the curve.
For me seeing these furred and feathered creatures is like watching the ocean or the sky: It provides me with some helpful perspective.
Life goes on.
Despite my human worries, Life is going on just fine.
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2 comments:
This sounds like my kinda place! I've probably said this before, but I feel so blessed when I have these unexpected brushes with nature. I can't help but grin like an idiot. I saw a blue heron perched on the roof of my condo building this morning and last Sunday I spotted Miss Mousy as she scooted to safety at the barn. She's a wiley one that one, I don't see her often. It's evident that she is one very well fed mouse, though...
You and your animals are fortunate to be in a place with room for all of you. So much wildlife struggles with loss of habitat. In fact, so does mankind.
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