Quite the Life (and all in Times New Roman 10pt!)
It always happens.
You know?
There’s always got to be one who keeps his eye on you.
Making sure you’re not getting away with anything.
There’s always got to be one who spoils the fun because they make sure nothing happens.
In this case, a Tom.
And a young one, too.
Probably doing it to impress the ladies.
That’s how Toms are.
Raccoons can be territorial. Especially around kits and food.
We have lots of raccoons and lots of kits.
We promote peaceful dining by putting out enough food for everyone.
The challenge to this rationale is simple; the more food, the more raccoons. The more raccoons, the more food.
Can you say “cycle”?
We’ve had as many as nineteen racoons visiting us at once. It might have been more. A lot.
Officially, we’d call it “a lot.”
All those “a lot of raccoons” got along fine. We had five piles of food distributed a few yards from each other. The various families got along well. It reminded me of that scene in The Godfather where the Five Families got together to discuss business.
Makes me wonder which of the raccoons in our yard is Marlon Brando.
I am five months behind in posting videos. This video is from mid-November 2020. Covid raged for nine months officially, about a year unofficially.
We’ve never been social. Friendly, yes. Social, no.
Except with The Wild.
One can easily be social with The Wild. Live near it, you have no choice.
Friendly? That’s another issue.
We may like to believe Nature is friendly. People who believe such have never spent time in it. Deeply in it.
I enjoy Nature. Love it, is probably more accurate. I do what I can to protect it.
And I know Nature is the ultimate egalitarian. It favors no one. You might make a case for Nature favoring the strong but one must ask “How are we defining strength?”
Numerical superiority?
Big brains?
Big muscles?
Big teeth?
Or, in this case on this day, lots of beaks?
I mentioned last week coyote are cautious.
This week’s offering is a continuation, if you will, shot a few moments later in the evening.
What stood out here is the coyote gazing into the sky periodically and shying away. There were no astronomical oddities that night; no comets, no meteors, no blinding conjunctions.
What caused him to look up so often?
It reminded me of a story I read long, long ago. Basically, there was a killer asteroid coming at the earth. Simultaneous with the discovery of this asteroid, cetaceans as an order being singing a unified song. Some group studying whale song was close to decoding their language. Whale ancestors, it was known, survived the last ELE.
The uptake in song is part of their race memory and translates to “Lords of the Sky, Let Us Live.”
Wish I could track down that story and reread it. I remember it gave me chills back then.
I mentioned last week coyote are clever.
This week we learn they are also cautious.
With good reason, me thinks. They are misunderstood and misunderstanding’s denmate is caution, its cousin is fear.
How many times have you not been sure of something and chosen caution as the default mechanism?
Take a look at any government’s plans for an alien attack (what? you’re surprised such things really exist?) and you’ll see movies, novels, TV and radio dramas go mild in the response area. If you’ve never heard of “If I can’t have you then nobody can” as a dating strategy, check out these plans.
Can you say Scorched Earth?
Governments learned by observing their own colonizing endgames, me thinks. It use to be said, “Better dead than Red.” Seems to be their current thinking, as well.
So caution is the wisest move in the short term. Until proven otherwise.
Have you ever had the opportunity to win the confidence of The Wild?
It takes time. Lots of time.
And it’s worth it.
The Old Ones…they remember.