Stranger Every Day

Critter Tales

We have a lovely back yard at our house. It's small, but that's part of its charm. We've fenced it in for privacy and the fence makes a great backdrop. Lots of landscaping, a water feature, Zen-style pebble area, a screened porch - all in all it looks good. To humans and animals alike.

We have the usual array of neighborhood denizens, like squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks. And birds love the water feature. But we get some larger four-legged visitors as well - possums, raccoons, and the occasional cat. I don't mind as long as they don't take up residence under our porch. Unfortunately, possums and raccoons just love to tunnel under our porch to birth and raise their families. And trash our plantings. And eat the fish in the water feature (we don't keep fish in there anymore; too many replacements over the average summer).

Now, my wife and I are "dog people" (see my blogs about that here and here) and have had a canine for much of our life together. Our favorite dog was a black Lab that we swear wasn't really a dog, but a furry Bodhisattva. She didn't much care to play with other dogs, and looked insulted, no, hurt, when we put her on a leash. "What's the matter? Don't you trust me?" - That sort of look. When she died, we didn't get another dog for some time. And when we finally did, we came to wish that we'd waited a little longer.

You see, the next dog was a hunter, through and through. Fast as the wind and strong, he'd close on anything he set his sights on, grab it, shake it, and kill it. Just like that. It was over in seconds. He was a one-dog wrecking crew, and nothing, but nothing, could stand in his way when he was after something. He did clear out the back yard, catching and killing a number of possums, chipmunks, even raccoons. That dog was afraid of nothing, and everything. He'd tackle a grizzly, I swear, but even distant thunder would send him under the bed in an instant. It even got so that he was afraid of being walked in the twilight. We finally found another home for him after he went through our porch screen twice in one week, chasing some critter. He needed more than we could give him, so we gave him - another good home.

Our current dog is a 17 month old, mini-Labradoodle. She is the kindest, sweetest, happiest dog on the planet, but she's stubborn and has boundless energy. When she's revved up, I call her "20 pounds of fury." She'll play with any dog who will have her, and is endlessly curious. However, she's tiny and her curiosity extends to creatures that might not receive her exuberance gladly. Like raccoons, for instance.

Despite the fact that we have no fish, a family of raccoons recently became the latest inhabitants under our porch. We don't want our pint-sized tough girl tangling with Mama 'Coon, so we're watching out for Mama, and her young, until we can get rid of them. First thought was to trap them, and we've done that in the past, releasing the animals into the woods a couple of miles away. But we don't have a trap right now.

So I sprinkled coyote urine granules outside their burrow, while Mama and the kids were out and about. This was to trick them into thinking that there were predators in the neighborhood (real ones, not a 20-pound puppy). I think this did the trick, as we haven't seen them since then. I hope that's true, but I think I'll sprinkle more granules to be sure.

There are lessons here, as always. The little 'doodle has reminded us that when we are young, life is fresh. With that freshness comes endless enthusiasm and a willingness to take on all that life may bring, albeit sometimes foolishly.  The raccoons have left a message too. Like them, sometimes we are afraid of things that aren't really there, but that we think are there, based on superficial inferences. While this may be adaptive (the predator angle), it often is little more than our minds running away with us.

I'm grateful to all the critters that have taught me lessons, from Bodhisattva dogs, to puppies, to raccoons. We are being taught every day. May we be granted the wisdom to notice it whenever it is happening.

Is It Too Oily, Or Too Late?

Aren't we all going a little more than a little crazy over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? It seems like nothing can stop the flow of the oil, as all efforts have either failed or have been able to recapture only a portion of the leaking goo. Meanwhile, sections of our coast have been fouled, ecosystems have been badly compromised or destroyed, and the our economy will take a hit of unknown magnitude as a result.

There has been no shortage of posturing; that's for sure. Everyone wants to know who's responsible for what, looking to make a few heads roll. But really it's our eyes that should be rolling, because there's no push for substantive change - just more of the same, only cosmetically different.

I just saw a "poll" online. One could vote on whether or not President Obama is to blame for all this. Well, sure he is - for not overturning some of the policies crafted by Bush/Cheney that condoned the unsafe practices that allowed this disaster to happen.

(Here is an article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. about those practices that will raise a few eyebrows.)

But it's not so much a question of who is in the White House. It's more about who really runs the country (corporations) and what can be done to change it. The corporate world does not have the interests of the common people at heart. Period. If we want things to change, we have to wake up and change them ourselves. But voting out the incumbents is an overly simplistic approach. The system has to be changed, not only the people who have been seduced by it.

Alternative energy is one key. Getting informed is another, but listening to talking heads of whatever stripe does not help us to get informed. All it does is soothe us via voices that tell us what we want to hear so that we can continue to sleep.

This is the latest opportunity to wake up and make necessary changes. Not only to the government and to corporations, but to ourselves. We need to get off our ample behinds, turn off the corporate media, and take some positive steps. Eat better, get informed, think for ourselves, connect with each other in meaningful ways, and stand up for what will benefit all of us - not just the guys in the suits whose short-sighted strategies care only for the bottom line.

While I mean every word I've just written, I'm going to get off the soap box for now. I'm getting a nose bleed. But I will leave you with this link. It was prescient (1976), to say the least.