A couple of my grandsons are at the age where the word “nuts” makes them giggle. I show them a road-killed squirrel as a subtle message to look when they cross the street. “Are those his ‘nuts’?” they laugh.
The problem with squirrels is the other kind of nuts. They sort of tear up the ground trying to bury them. There are a lot of squirrels in the neighborhood. Too many, if you ask me. There’s also an overpopulation of rabbits. They’re eating vines and young trees.
But nature has a way. There are a pair of Redtails nesting nearby. I live in the city, but I can hear their keening cries and see them circling above each day as they start to hunt. I get a call from the younger grandson the other day. He say’s with excitement and disgust, “Abba, the hawk is eating the squirrel’s nuts! Yuk!”
Yesterday, while writing, I look out my office window and see a rare site. A red fox is trotting through my yard. I cheer and then recall that I haven’t seen as many rabbits. They were everywhere this summer. But the fox looks both confident in the urban surroundings and well fed.
There are creatures among us. They remind me that we are all connected. That as the hawk or fox population grows, the rabbit and squirrel population will diminish and then reverse itself again. Someplace in this ancient ritual, even a forest was planted… from squirrel nuts.
We Are All Connected. Savor the Earth!
Hobie,
L. Hobart Stocking
SkyWaterEarth.com
hobart@skywaterearth.com
651-357-0110
Facebook: @SkyWaterEarthConnected
Twitter: @SkyWaterEarth
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