Quite the Life (and all in Times New Roman 10pt!)
We don’t see enough of Deer.
A sad fact, that.
We know there are deer out there.
There was one beautiful fawn who we saw regularly when walking our dog. She would see us before we saw her – duh! and we’d hear a gentle movement through the woods announcing her presence.
Ever cautious, she observed us long before she deigned to accept us as part of her pleasure.
Less while ago we were blessed with a herd led by a magnificent buck.
A glory, that.
Anybody who keeps up with me knows I value The Wild and probably more than I value the company of my own species. I’m sure I’ve quote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea‘s andThe Mysterious Island‘s Captain Nemo more than once – “I’ve never found interaction with my species satisfactory.”
Ah, but The Wild holds endless fascination for me. From the invisible-to-others movements of the smallest pieces of the universe to the Universe itself…how can one not be enthralled by the sheer glory of it.
I ask you, have you ever heard the Universe sing?
Have you ever rested a moment on Saturn’s rings, caught your breath, prepare for the next leg of your journey, and ask the stars to catch you lest you fall in an abyss of time?
Not that such would be a bad thing.
Only different.
From what most people experience in their day.
So these posts allow me to share what others can be aware of.
A first step, if you will.
Take it.
Don’t hesitate.
I’ll go with you.
We can discover what’s out there together.
Promise.
I wrote a few weeks back about a flirting Tom in OOh OOh Ain’t I Pretty?.
That fellow’s at it again…and with much the same results.
Watching mating behaviors amuses me greatly.
Sometimes I even watch The Wild‘s mating behaviors.
Nowhere near as amusing as Two-Legs’ behaviors, though…
We are Graced by Coyote.
(Note the capital “G” above. No fool, I)
This sprightly gent dines elegantly on an apple core I tossed into our yard. Opossum most often dine on fruits and veges we offer, and Opossum can be right persnickety when they’re dining. Coyote avoid them more often than not.
Which tells us this fellow dines sans Opossum as either guest or host.
But there are Raccoon around because we can hear them chastising this handsome lad.
We leave out apple cores because a favorite snack (for me) is Granny Smith apples and chunky peanut butter (love the chunky kind, not so much the smooth kind (and that description tells you much about me and why I chose as I did)).
I often sit outside and The Wild come to me, take from my hand and dine with me.
Heck, Raccoon and Skunk come into my lap (I sit on the ground usually), stand up supporting themselves with their forepaws on my chest, and sniff my breath to determine if what I’m munching on is better than what I offer them (I do not recommend others do this).
Makes me wonder if I should share some apples and peanut butter with them.
Or with this fellow, any way.
Enjoy.
Continuing with my sexist pig rambling started in Lucky Tom (and what a sexist thought), I digress a moment to recognize the costly signalling of mating behaviors.
Care to calculate the biologic cost, the sheer energy demands upon a Tom’s system, to create and maintain their mating display?
It is staggering.
Signal Theory is a pet study of mine. It deals with the economic (in the true and broader concept of “economic”) cost of some action, behavior, speech, whatever, it doesn’t matter, put it into Signal Theory and you discover the real reason for the behavior and that reason, my readers, is so far and away from what someone’s stated reason for acting, behaving, speaking, whatevering, is as to be astounding.
A Tom’s display, for example, is really no different than the young Two-Legs male purchasing a flashy car, buying flashy clothes, having a posh flat, spending hours at the gym, so on and so forth.
Both are attempts to Signal their appropriateness, their attractiveness to some interesting other.
What’s truly wonderful about Signal Theory is, figure out what’s really being signalled and why and you learn more about the person than one could hope to imagine.
For example, women who are avid (I was tempted to write “rabid”) Trump supporters.
I, personally, can’t understand why a self-respecting woman would be a Trump supporter. He’s a blatant, misogynistic idiot (that last part’s all on me. The first two are from public record).
So what does a woman gain by supporting him?
Signal Theory suggests we look at it from a mating perspective (not all Signal Theory deals with mating behavior, but it is handy, isn’t it?).
Women as a class are long-term investors who favor stability over excitement (something research, my own and others) has demonstrated.
Male Trump supports tend to be staunch and rabid republicans.
Male republicans as a class are conservative, stable, and have solid financial presents and futures.
Things, by the way, for which Trump is the poster child.
Especially considering his multiple bankruptcies.
So why some women support Trump?
Because it increases their desirability in the eyes and minds of stable, conservative, financially solid males.
Yeah.
Signal Theory.
Gotta love it.