Category: WildLife

A Wandering Tom

Earlier this year…Spring, in fact, and only six days since Brother Crow‘s visit…a single, unaccompanied Tom came to say hello.

Or cluck hello.

A single Tom usually means the Hens are busy with their eggs. We were fortunate enough in our travels to see a proud Hen with some quite young (less than a week old) chicks flurrying around her.

They were grand.

We stopped traffic in both directions though. She was taking them across a road. I encouraged her not to.

She agreed, gathered them, and hurried back into The Wild.

Drivers flashed their lights, gave us a thumbs-up, and waited patiently.

It’s a good thing.

Enjoy.

 

Brother Crow

What do you know about Crow?

Me, not much.

I learn as I go.

I know that Crow holds a special place in most world mythologies.

At least places in the world where Crow is present.

In most such places, Crow is able to travel between worlds, to be in two places at once.

Fascinating ability, that, and I make use of it in Marianne and The Shaman.

I learned long ago Crow is my Brother Spirit, and met It first during my studies. Now able to hear Its voice, Crow often brings me messages from both near and far, from this side and that.

Warnings. Encouragements. Suggestions.

But the good stuff is what It shares about the secret lives of others.

For example, the things It tells me about you…

Enjoy.

 

He Likes Peanuts?

And now of much higher quality than I’m an object of curiosity (because my hands aren’t in the way), we see this strapping fellow in full.

I admit none of us would have known his presence were it not for the other wildlife taking to the trees and uttering epithets of such vehemence!

After all, this is the dinner hour to many of The Wild in our yard.

Which reminds me of a great standup routine by Sebastian Maniscalco about how telephone usage has changed over time.

It use to be that a ringing phone meant everybody pay attention, this could be important. Dinner? Ha! If somebody’s calling when they know we’ll be eating, you know it’s gotta be important because nobody in their right mind would destroy the sanctity of the family meal.

(and note Congress had to pass a law that phone solicitors couldn’t call during the “dinner hour”)

But now? Let it ring. They’ll call back or voicemail will get it. Who cares, we can’t be bothered.

I think the reverse is true with young people. They seem to crave something anything interrupting having to interact with their parents.

Which goes back to learning from one’s teachers, as mentioned last week…

 

I’m an object of curiosity

While recognizably of poor quality (the video, not the gentleman who is the subject of the video), the attention The Wild grants Two-Legs always intrigues me.

And not just Coyote – as is the subject of this post – but all Old Ones focus on us when we’re around.

Survival, I’m sure, to many, and I doubt that’s the case here (meaning “in our yard”) as they don’t shy away from us often.

Such is not the case when our neighbors gather.

Then it’s hustle justle hustle get back into deep cover before they do something…

foolish.

But I’ve interacted with Two-Legs enough to know respect for one’s teachers is neither a universal nor a given.

Sigh.

 

Turkey Prejudices

Following up on last week’s Turkeys and a Cautious Squirrel, we note a concern with our WildLife‘s social skills.

Specifically with some Turkeys.

We learn some Turkeys do not like Squirrels.

Regular readers may remember Agnes’s Chippie War Dance when an aberrant chipmunk thought to oust her from her pile of seeds.

That was a different issue, however.

Property rights (we suspect Agnes learned property rights from some of our neighbors).

Oh, if I’m to be accurate (why start now?) it’s more like resource issues and such is more in the mindsets of The Wild.

And being completely honest, would you want squirrels around if you were a Turkey?

Nasty little things, you know…the way they watch you…just waiting for you to drop a peanut or a seed or –God Forbid! – a cookie!

Okay, okay, okay. We put out food for our Squirrels, too.