WildLife – Page 43 – Joseph Carrabis, Author Blog

Boo does not like Opie

Our dog, Boo, has issues with some wildlife.

We’re not sure why.

We’ve never encouraged it. Quite the opposite. We’re open and friendly with all the Old Ones who visit.

Some times Boo is asleep, wakes up, and see’s me going out to say hello.

He’s jealous.

We’ve explained there are outside friends and inside friends.

We think it’s something more primal.

Something long ago and lost in canine and didelphine memory.

A opossum and a wolf walked into a bar, perhaps, started toasting each other’s good health, someone said something, you know how these things happen.

I doubt it started with an argument over a mate, even though the original Powhatan/Algonquian word means “white dog.”

Maybe an opossum or a dog was slumming, spending time with the other, got caught by their peers and later generations still carry the shame?

Don’t know, except that Boo doesn’t like Opie.

Asis on the Hunt

The head of our driveway is ringed by a stone wall crowned with shrubbery.

From a distance it can be mistaken for a sleeping stone giant with a green crewcut.

If it is a sleeping stone giant with a crewcut, Asis does it a favor now and then by grooming it.

The giant’s hair is a haven for chipmunks, mice, voles, all sorts of little fur bellies.

The giant doesn’t seem to mind.

I mean, I’ve never seen it scratch it’s head.

Must be because Asis keeps a steady watch.

Moving quickly, silently, from follicle to follicle, from dandrite to dandrite, hunting hunting hunting.

The Wild takes care of its own.

Two-Legs just need eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to understand.

Magic is all around, waiting, patient.

And if our kind pass?

The magic will be there for others more willing to see, to listen, to understand.

I’ve heard people crying out, “Save the Earth!” and some such.

Save the Earth from what?

The Earth was here some five billion-plus years before we showed up. It’ll be here some five billion-plus years after we’re gone.

Don’t bother to save the Earth. It doesn’t need us to do that.

Time is better spent saving ourselves.

But what’s the fun in that?

The Gathering Hordes (of Raccoons)

Humans are in a pandemic as I write this.

Covid-19. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?

Yet the Old Ones still gather daily and nightly in our yard.

I’ve often fretted about making offerings to The Old Ones. I make sure I offer enough to supplement, not enough to fulfill. I want them to find food their normal ways and not grow dependent. I worry what might happen to them once I pass.

Who will care for them?

I forget that they are Old Ones. They have survived human pestilence save humans being pestilence towards them.

I know certain diseases have ravaged wildlife.

I wonder if they know a disease is affecting Two-Legged life, or do they not care. Do they say amongst themselves, “They are Two-Legs. We were here before them, we will be here after them.”

I wonder how long the current pandemic will last. Or will it decimate Two-Legged life? Were the survivalists correct all along? If you’ve ever read Earth Abides or The Stand, you know the next chapter of humanity may not be all that pleasant.

And still, the Old Ones gather.

I’m sure they will after we’re gone.

The question is, how will they remember us.

So I’ll ask; how do you want to be remembered? Enter a comment. I’d like to know.

Coming to the Convention? Or is it a Convocation? (Of Turkeys)

We continue to be blessed with a preponderance of Turkeys.

We don’t mind. Most aboriginal cultures recognizing turkeys consider them signs of abundance. Not quite success but close to.

We’re experiencing much abundance even though the world (as I write this) is concerned with the corona virus.

In the early part of the outbreak, people googled seeking a connection between Corona beer and the corona virus.

Made me wonder if the virus could target stupidity. Ignorance I don’t mind. Sometimes ignorant people recognize they’re ignorant and take steps to educate themselves. They read a book, watch a documentary, take a class, talk with neighbors, …

But then you get the folks who know they’re ignorant and chose to remain so.

I’ve never understood that; the willful choice to remain in the dark when one step away is so much light.

But I also understand knowledge can be fearful. Discovering you were in error on something? Especially if it’s something you hold dear, close to heart, sacred? Something you’ve based your life on?

Such happens all too often in science, sorry to say.

I’d like to think people with scientific training are immune to such ego based ideals, are able to recognize truth as truth and promote it.

Nah…what am I thinking?

Scientists are people, too.

Some of them are just stupid ones.

Meanwhile, the Turkeys congregate and convocate and discuss what they’ll do when we’ve long past.