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Mother Nature in the Burbs
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Mother Nature in the Burbs There was a deer outside the window this afternoon. When I was younger, and I grew up just a few miles west of here, there were no deer. Or maybe just so few and so canny from being hunted for meat that a noisy , even one who spent all of his summers in the woods, never saw a deer and only rarely saw a track or spoor. There were farms where and when I grew. Corn across the street, cows at Carner's, horses at the Brown's, and just about one of everything for a while at the rented house, the Shatroe's farm up the street. But no deer. These days the only natural enemy of deer are speeding automobiles here in suburbia. Hunting in all of it's forms, gun, bow, muzzle loader is illegal where the houses grow as close together as the corn once did. The deer know this and have become somewhat brazen. Vegetable gardens are nearly impossible to protect, flower gardens fare little better, decorative greenery and shrubs from around the country and world are merely flashing neon signs for the deer, yelling, "Diner", and, "Eat at Joe's". Flowering and fruit trees need to grow taller than eight feet before they grow into a safety zone too high to be consumed. And in the backyard, as I stood at the kitchen counter peeling vegetables for the evening salad, a doe grazed in full view and I in her full view, 15 feet apart. You must understand, that when I built the house, the kitchen was supposed to have a total of ten windows, five casements wide and each with a transom window above. (Build your own house and you can have it any damned way you wish.) But the day that I was to finish the rough framing for the openings I cleared all of the temporary framing from the opening before beginning the task of cutting and installing the rhythm of five pair of windows in a row. The cleared opening was breath taking. Arresting. I loved it instantly. I left it open. I bowed to the need for operable windows to the left and right sides, but the center space that was to have been for six separate windows..... all became one. I built a six foot high by nine foot long frame that runs from flush with the counter top to the ceiling and nearly nine feet wide behind the kitchen sink. When you stand peeling and washing salad fixings, you may as well BE in the back yard. The deer was unimpressed. We each worked at our dinners and some time during my work, I wasn't looking, she wandered off. Walked back into the four or five acres of undeveloped forest to the side and rear of the house. A wild thing in the midst of a city of 100,000 people. A wild thing that has adapted just enough to the modern demands of society. That hides in or visits the few wild acres that still exist and yet strolls brazenly, bravely through a modern urbia. And with something of a grin, something of a small shock of recognition, the deer and I each on our own side of the glass, the deer just being more honest about her adaption and fears. I, lying to myself as to my successful acceptance of society. I am every bit the brazen and timid individual of humans, as is that deer to its wild brethren. As a I ran in the forests all summer long. Coming home breathless, sweaty, and filthy for lunch. Being called home by the blaring of the car horn for dinner or special times. I always ran, yards or miles, usually barefoot, arriving breathless and smiling, "Did you call?" The more I think about it, the less difference I see between that doe and I. Dean |
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*smiles*...I cannot see how the deer was not impressed with a window that large...to be grubby and full of life and abandon and free to explore...that is something to smile about...thank you *hugs*
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We have opposable thumbs, and supposedly brains. So what do we {humans in general} do with the 'extras'? We basically end up wiping it out or at least messing things up. That's why I like water so much; man can mess with land, but water keeps him humble.
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1 post 9/7/2007 4:42 am |
Wonderful read, thankx for sharing. Nothing more relaxing than being one with nature.
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