Quite the Life (and all in Times New Roman 10pt!)
Do you have children?
Do they ask you for things?
When they do, how do they behave?
Begging Behavior is a well established concept in The Wild. Domestic animals, too, and especially those who live directly with us. Have a dog or cat or bird? Do they let you know their wants and needs? Part of that behavior is instinctual and part is what they learned from you.
Domestic animals are keen observers of their humans. They know our weaknesses and discard our strengths. They play us for all we’re worth. I’ve even seen pet tarantula engage in begging behavior.
The Wild is much the same. Begging behavior occurs when the young want something from their elder. You can see it in moose, skunk, hawk, deer, opossum, chipmunk, and in this case, raccoon.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what is probably the penultimate begging behavior, albeit one only half our population recognizes.
Ladies, you know what I mean, correct?
We do enjoy entertaining guests here at Chez Carrabis.
Case in point, this waysome traveler, a mature Oaps, a wonderful thing to see taking a wee nip on a cold winter’s night.
Not all The Wild sleeps or lies dormant in the winter. Many still roam, knocking on doors, knocking over trashcans, asking for advice, a tender taste, a slight offering from our table to theirs.
Happy to provide, we, because knowing they are well is a formidable joy.
The Wild brings me gifts.
Sometimes the gifts are great ones; a long, deep snow whitening the darkness of Winter, my Brother Orion striding across the skies.
Sometimes the gifts are small ones; bright green buds announcing Spring’s arrival, the first web of a spider awakening from a long winter nap.
Sometimes the gift is a small bird curious as to the boundaries of one world and another, human and not-human, inside and outside, wild and tame.
Given my druthers, give me The Wild. There the rules are clear, the rules are known. They are not subject to whimsy, to one or a few people’s whim, to last night’s bad piece of beef or undercooked potato.
I appreciate the tame warmth when The Wild is cold. I appreciate the tame light when The Wild is dark.
But I do not appreciate the undecisive future of the tame. There are many factors determining the path of The Wild and even the most extreme are known, recognized, and understood.
The tame’s path’s undecisiveness is uncalculable by all but the most advanced mathematics using tools few tame understand or can wield, effectively making The Wild the safer bet for natural longevity.
So if push comes to shove, look for me in The Wild. All are predator, all are prey, …
And all are welcome.
