GAVEL GAMUT
By Jim Redwine
www.jamesmredwine.com
(Week of 14 April 2025)
THE BATTLE IS JOINED
If one builds a cabin in the woods that looks like it is a tree, one should not be surprised if nature’s creatures consider one’s home their home. Such is our situation but Peg refuses to accept it. Now that the vernal equinox has passed, the last freeze is history and deer season is over, nature has returned. And, just as multiple creatures are mating and munching on millions of prairie flowers and tender shoots, Peg cannot contain her enthusiasm. She gleefully joins in the annual rites of spring planting and propagating, regardless of how many seasons I remind her that the main beneficiaries of her tilling, mulching, watering, seeding, spraying, dusting, covering, pruning and growing are the animals who see us as squatters on their terrain. They see themselves as entitled to the fruits of her largesse with the two of us the gleaners of what may have been missed by the rightful inhabitants.
Each year is but another proof that we are mere transients in Mother Nature’s bait and switch drama of new hope and old reality. On the other hand, Peg does help assure that our fragile economy does not completely collapse. She also sees to it that I do not simply observe the wonders of waving grasses and cavorting wildlife. Someone, me, has to get things from point A, Walmart, to point B, Peg’s flower and vegetable beds. I am sure the exercise is good for me.
I do wonder who is responsible for the deer knowing that hunting season is over and woodpeckers seeing our log cabin as an aid to avian nuptials and nest building. Just yesterday I thought Peg might be somewhat amenable to my reasonable laissez faire approach to living in the country as we were awakened by an incessant banging just outside our window. I looked out to see a downy woodpecker rapping hopefully against our cabin. According to the Stokes Beginners Guide to Birds, the rapping was not just for insects but was also an attempt to send out romantic messages for a mate. Actually, I found his “music” to be every bit as melodic as the cacophonous cackling of contemporary entertainer’s love songs. Perhaps he will get lucky. I hope so and soon as he starts with the break of dawn.
Another reason I think Peg may be open to fewer attempts to realign nature was we also had eight deer in our front yard munching on Peg’s freshly planted ferns. She immediately turned from “aren’t they cute?” to “Jim, get your shotgun”. I mumbled something about needing shells and continued to watch the destruction.
So, Gentle Reader, at least those of you who do not feel a seasonal urge to revamp nature in our own image, it looks like another inter-species battle is going to be waged by Peg. I sympathize with Peg’s desire to dance around the maypole of spring. However, I am okay with sharing space with our wildlife, especially since it was their space to begin with.
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