the peace of wild things

We moved to the country for many reasons. We wanted privacy, quiet, security, room for our dogs to roam and romp..and the simple beauty of living where the world is slightly less tame, and slightly more wild.

BlackBaroque on etsy

We've found all that and more here on Moss Hill, and although most of what happens here - at least most of what we witness - isn't particularly spectacular, and is, in fact, really quite routine, the wonder of it all never ceases to delight and amaze.

Quail scurry around  - looking rather idiotic - eating the bits thrown from the bird feeder by messier birds. Deer pass through every evening, always along the same path at the edge of the yard. Hummingbirds swoop and flitter around the feeders, fueling their mania with sugar water.

Under cover of darkness, tree frogs swim in the pool, and climb onto our outstretched hands if we're in the water with them. One of them has taken up temporary residence on the porch, singing from the rim of the fountain in the evenings, and sleeping in the now-empty pollywog pool during the day. (Did I tell you about the pollywogs?...We raised a dozen or so in a habitat I put together using an under-bed storage tote, sand, rocks, and water. They all grew up over the course of the summer, some into toads, others into tree frogs. The last one moved out yesterday.)

tinyartjewelry on etsy

Bats soar and dive at dusk and dawn...Last week I lay down in the grass at sunrise as a whole cloud of bats fluttered and plummeted to within a few feet of my face, catching their breakfast of insects rising up from the warming grass. I had to hold my hand over my mouth to keep from crying out, it was so thrilling. My equivalent of swimming with dolphins, I think.

I know these things are commonplace, but to me they'll never be ordinary. This humble world of hours is a marvelous place, and I, for one, am madly in love with it.

Property of Russ Thompson, Louisville KY
Visit Enjoyable Hummingbirds to see more.

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

When despair for the world grows in me, 

and I wake in the night at the least sound 

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be - 

I go and lie down where the wood drake 

rests in his beauty on the water, 

and the great heron feeds. 

I come into the peace of wild things 

who do not tax their lives with forethought or grief. 

I come into the presence of still water. 

And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. 

For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~ Wendell Berry

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/

in it up to his neck

The coyotes are back. We haven't seen or heard them since last winter...until tonight. I took the dogs out, and Derby and Nadia took off for the adjoining field, as always. A minute later, I heard, from the direction of the field, a long, slow, oooOOOOOOOOOOOooooo. The hair on the back of my neck bristled, and I shouted the dogs back to me through the darkness. They'll be going out on leashes after dark until Spring.

I'm not complaining; it's not like we live in the city...we're in their territory. See:

A friend lives here (below) - right IN L'ville - and she saw a coyote in her backyard not long ago. 

In the ongoing battle between man and all the rest of the natural world, I can honestly say it would be okay with me if we don't win. 

But I still don't want a coyote to eat my dogs.

moose molar ring, by Malodora on etsy

 

  

 Nature includes all of the universe 

and man is not only a part of nature, 

he is in it up to his neck.

~ N.J. Berrill

  

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/

little moments

Holy shit, living in the country is never dull! The dogs spotted this flock out the window this afternoon. Click on the image for a closer look...

From allaboutbirds.org:

• A native of North America, the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is one of only two domesticated birds originating in the New World. The Muscovy Duck is the other.
• European explorers took Wild Turkeys to Europe from Mexico in the early 1500s. They were so successfully domesticated in Europe that English colonists brought them back with them when they settled on the Atlantic Coast. The domestic form has retained the white tail tip of the original Mexican subspecies, and that character can be used to distinguish wandering barnyard birds from wild turkeys which have chestnut-brown tail tips.
• The male Wild Turkey provides no parental care. When the eggs hatch, the chicks follow the female. She feeds them for a few days, but they quickly learn to feed themselves. Several hens and their broods may join up into bands of more than 30 birds. Winter groups have been seen to exceed 200.

From wikipedia.org:

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  Wild Turkeys are omnivorous, foraging on the ground or climbing shrubs and small trees to feed. They prefer eating hard mast such asacorns, nuts, and various trees, including hazel, chestnut, hickory, and pinyon pine as well as various seeds, berries such as juniper and bearberry, roots and insects. Turkeys also occasionally consume amphibians and small reptiles such as newts and snakes. Poults have been observed eating insects, berries, and seeds. Wild Turkeys often feed in cow pastures. They sometimes visit backyard bird feeders to search for seed on the ground or in rare cases croplands after harvest to pick at the detritus left over from a threshing machine on farms. Turkeys are also known to eat a wide variety of grasses.

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    Turkey populations can reach large numbers in small areas because of their ability to forage for different types of food. Early morning and late afternoon are the desired times for eating.

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The little things? The little moments? 
They aren't little.
-  John Zabat-Zinn

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/

hopefully in case

Last night a bunny hopped across the porch, pausing for a moment in the patch of light outside the window. The dogs are convinced he lives under the porch. I suspect they're right.  

all photos here

These bunnies and the little red-capped girl, by Brooklyn-based artist Naoko Stoop, make me smile and smile. They remind me a bit of the illustrations from The Little Prince, almost deceptively simple and innocent.

And all Rabbit's friends-and-relations spread themselves about on the grass, and waited hopefully in case anybody spoke to them, or dropped anything, or asked them the time.

~ A.A. Milne

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/