Appreciate Life and Living

 Some mornings when I have nothing else on my agenda and the weather is pleasant, I like to step out onto the back patio and just sit for awhile.  Such was the case last Saturday before it got so hot.  There was a very gentle breeze...just a mile or two an hour...the temperature was just right, and there wasn't much in the way of loud sounds except for an occasional private airplane somewhere or the noise of the neighbor's outside air conditioner unit which cycled from time to time.

I went out shortly after getting up for the day, so was still in a kind of wake up mode.  It takes awhile, as one gets older, to get the blood flowing and the brain engaged.  That was me that morning as I went out on the back patio.  For awhile, I just sat in a lawn chair on the brick patio, looking around.  Occasionally, someone would walk, jog, or bicycle on the path in the park which is right behind us.  And at times I could hear the conversations of those in the park as they walked together.  But otherwise, the morning seemed dull and lifeless...just an ordinary day.  However, I was mistaken, as you will shortly hear.

A man went by on an electric bicycle.  Another man was walking, carrying what seemed to me to be a huge backpack...the kind one might see being carried on a hike into the wilderness.  A few women jogged by.  And there were a couple of young girls about age 5 or 6 who would find something of interest to look at, stop, and chatter about their find.  It was a kind of normal mix of folks using the park path that morning before it got hot later on.

Other than the park people, I didn't notice much of anything happening around me until I happened to see a seed from a cottonwood tree gently move in the breeze over the fish pond, then slowly drift into the water.  For some reason, that prompted me to engage my senses a little better.  When I did, I noticed several things going on that I otherwise would have missed.  What follows are just some of those things.

The neighbor's air conditioner unit was not running at the time, so I was able to hear a dove calling in the distance.  A house sparrow soon followed, along with a tufted titmouse.  A little later a blue jay began a raucous call that alerted other jays in the neighborhood to also begin to chatter.  And, of course, there are always cardinals, it seems, either where we can see them or hear them.  That didn't happen this morning, though, which was quite unusual.  There was, however, a squirrel somewhere in the woods who was chattering about something or other...possibly a missus scolding her mate for something he either was or wasn't doing.

I noticed a dragonfly sweeping back and forth over the fish pond.  They do that regularly, and I enjoy watching them dart about as they do so.  I have wondered why they had such a fascination for the fish pond until I read an article about them.  They are, it seems, voracious predators and love to fly over ponds and areas of lush growth to capture mosquitos on the fly.  That would explain their occasional deviation from a normal flight pattern as they maneuver themselves to capture a mosquito in flight.

Dragonflies are a fascinating creature.  Many have a double set of wings that can flap independently of each other in order to give them maximum maneuverability.  They can fly in any direction and almost instantly change course.  They have been recorded as generating as much as 9 G forces in sharp turns and can fly upwards of 30 miles an hour.  Their eyes are better than ours, being able to process about 200 images per second.  They can see 360 degrees around themselves.  About 80 percent of their brain is devoted to sight.

And then there were the butterflies that seem to be constantly fluttering around.  We are, for some reason it seems, a sort of haven for a medium size white, or rather almost white, butterfly that likes to flit around and land on an assortment of plants we have in the yard.  Not just one or two butterflies, and not just for a day or two.  These things have been around for a couple of months now.  I'll see half a dozen or more at any given time.  We occasionally have other assorted butterflies, but these white ones are the most prominent.

I planted some parsley in a front yard flowerbed this year hoping to attract swallowtail butterflies.  It seems to have worked because there are at least three caterpillars on the plants, munching away.  I also have milkweed for monarchs, but have seen a precipitous drop off in the number of monarchs coming through, and as far as I know I have not hosted any monarch eggs or caterpillars as of yet.  There's still time, but it is growing short.

Then there are the assorted bees that like some of the plants we have in our yard.  I'm guessing that they mostly come from the park behind us because the rest of our neighborhood is, for the most part, well-tended yards and lawns.  Smallish bees, honeybees, and even bumblebees like the pretty much constant flowering of the catmint and other flowering plants.  They're gentle, and don't seem to mind my looking at them rather close-up.  Some have obvious pollen pouches on their legs.  It's a good reminder of the variety of animal and plant life in this creation.

It was beginning to get warm, so I got up to go back inside.  As I did so, I saw a small garden snail about one half inch in diameter trudging toward me on his one foot on the brick patio.  What he was doing half-way to the house on the brick, I haven't a clue.  He was going away from anything resembling his normal habitat, and probably to certain death.  I carefully picked him up and took him to some foliage around the fish pond.  Dropping him into the dense growth, I hoped he found a good place to munch away on whatever may be in that undergrowth.

Although I didn't see any today, once in awhile I see a bull snake or garter snake either sunning himself or sauntering casually into or out of the undergrowth.  We'll see deer by our back fence, as well as raccoons, possums, and once in a while a wild turkey.  We'll smell the unmistakable odor of a skunk sometimes, and hear owls and coyotes in the late evening.  Frogs will begin their choruses around nightfall...some at our fish pond and others at the water retention pond not far from us in the park. 

So, in retrospect, the morning that at first began with nothing special going on, quickly turned into a morning of discovery, pleasantness, and appreciation for even what wildlife and nature that can be found in a well-kept yard.  So, open your eyes and ears to what's around you.  Notice the small things.  Care for those...such as the snail...who cannot care for themselves.  I think you'll appreciate life and living much more.

 

Blessings.

Some mornings when I have nothing else on my agenda and the weather is pleasant, I like to step out onto the back patio and just sit for awhile.  Such was the case last Saturday before it got so hot.  There was a very gentle breeze...just a mile or two an hour...the temperature was just right, and there wasn't much in the way of loud sounds except for an occasional private airplane somewhere or the noise of the neighbor's outside air conditioner unit which cycled from time to time.

I went out shortly after getting up for the day, so was still in a kind of wake up mode.  It takes awhile, as one gets older, to get the blood flowing and the brain engaged.  That was me that morning as I went out on the back patio.  For awhile, I just sat in a lawn chair on the brick patio, looking around.  Occasionally, someone would walk, jog, or bicycle on the path in the park which is right behind us.  And at times I could hear the conversations of those in the park as they walked together.  But otherwise, the morning seemed dull and lifeless...just an ordinary day.  However, I was mistaken, as you will shortly hear.

A man went by on an electric bicycle.  Another man was walking, carrying what seemed to me to be a huge backpack...the kind one might see being carried on a hike into the wilderness.  A few women jogged by.  And there were a couple of young girls about age 5 or 6 who would find something of interest to look at, stop, and chatter about their find.  It was a kind of normal mix of folks using the park path that morning before it got hot later on.

Other than the park people, I didn't notice much of anything happening around me until I happened to see a seed from a cottonwood tree gently move in the breeze over the fish pond, then slowly drift into the water.  For some reason, that prompted me to engage my senses a little better.  When I did, I noticed several things going on that I otherwise would have missed.  What follows are just some of those things.

The neighbor's air conditioner unit was not running at the time, so I was able to hear a dove calling in the distance.  A house sparrow soon followed, along with a tufted titmouse.  A little later a blue jay began a raucous call that alerted other jays in the neighborhood to also begin to chatter.  And, of course, there are always cardinals, it seems, either where we can see them or hear them.  That didn't happen this morning, though, which was quite unusual.  There was, however, a squirrel somewhere in the woods who was chattering about something or other...possibly a missus scolding her mate for something he either was or wasn't doing.

I noticed a dragonfly sweeping back and forth over the fish pond.  They do that regularly, and I enjoy watching them dart about as they do so.  I have wondered why they had such a fascination for the fish pond until I read an article about them.  They are, it seems, voracious predators and love to fly over ponds and areas of lush growth to capture mosquitos on the fly.  That would explain their occasional deviation from a normal flight pattern as they maneuver themselves to capture a mosquito in flight.

Dragonflies are a fascinating creature.  Many have a double set of wings that can flap independently of each other in order to give them maximum maneuverability.  They can fly in any direction and almost instantly change course.  They have been recorded as generating as much as 9 G forces in sharp turns and can fly upwards of 30 miles an hour.  Their eyes are better than ours, being able to process about 200 images per second.  They can see 360 degrees around themselves.  About 80 percent of their brain is devoted to sight.

And then there were the butterflies that seem to be constantly fluttering around.  We are, for some reason it seems, a sort of haven for a medium size white, or rather almost white, butterfly that likes to flit around and land on an assortment of plants we have in the yard.  Not just one or two butterflies, and not just for a day or two.  These things have been around for a couple of months now.  I'll see half a dozen or more at any given time.  We occasionally have other assorted butterflies, but these white ones are the most prominent.

I planted some parsley in a front yard flowerbed this year hoping to attract swallowtail butterflies.  It seems to have worked because there are at least three caterpillars on the plants, munching away.  I also have milkweed for monarchs, but have seen a precipitous drop off in the number of monarchs coming through, and as far as I know I have not hosted any monarch eggs or caterpillars as of yet.  There's still time, but it is growing short.

Then there are the assorted bees that like some of the plants we have in our yard.  I'm guessing that they mostly come from the park behind us because the rest of our neighborhood is, for the most part, well-tended yards and lawns.  Smallish bees, honeybees, and even bumblebees like the pretty much constant flowering of the catmint and other flowering plants.  They're gentle, and don't seem to mind my looking at them rather close-up.  Some have obvious pollen pouches on their legs.  It's a good reminder of the variety of animal and plant life in this creation.

It was beginning to get warm, so I got up to go back inside.  As I did so, I saw a small garden snail about one half inch in diameter trudging toward me on his one foot on the brick patio.  What he was doing half-way to the house on the brick, I haven't a clue.  He was going away from anything resembling his normal habitat, and probably to certain death.  I carefully picked him up and took him to some foliage around the fish pond.  Dropping him into the dense growth, I hoped he found a good place to munch away on whatever may be in that undergrowth.

Although I didn't see any today, once in awhile I see a bull snake or garter snake either sunning himself or sauntering casually into or out of the undergrowth.  We'll see deer by our back fence, as well as raccoons, possums, and once in a while a wild turkey.  We'll smell the unmistakable odor of a skunk sometimes, and hear owls and coyotes in the late evening.  Frogs will begin their choruses around nightfall...some at our fish pond and others at the water retention pond not far from us in the park. 

So, in retrospect, the morning that at first began with nothing special going on, quickly turned into a morning of discovery, pleasantness, and appreciation for even what wildlife and nature that can be found in a well-kept yard.  So, open your eyes and ears to what's around you.  Notice the small things.  Care for those...such as the snail...who cannot care for themselves.  I think you'll appreciate life and living much more.

 

Blessings.