Hello beautiful readers,
Greetings from our VT forest home – my favorite place on the planet.
I was thinking that this time you deserve a post, which if you are OK to read it, is way lighter (and shorter) than the last (& probably the next one too.)
I’ve been wanting you to meet my newest teacher, & now good buddy. Even though I’ve no idea if “Rocky” is a boy or a girl squirrel, you now get why I chose this name.
So, meet my Rocky (aka “Rocket J. Squirrel”).
We met shortly after I installed a number of feeders for my flying feathered friends. I’ve such affection and respect for them. They offer me the huge gift of their beauty, their wisdom and their song — all in exchange for a few measly seeds -– a MOST unfair exchange, all to my benefit.
I planned, and set the feeders in a way that I was pretty certain that the squirrels and chipmunks wouldn’t succeed in sharing their food.
And, for a while, it worked. The birds were my only clients.
But Rocky visited often, leapt (flew actually), out of a nearby tree onto the railing, scampered along and sat for LONG periods of time just looking at and studying the feeders, which were several feet away. I could swear he was thinking… “how can I do this?” Observing her so deep in thought, I was reminded of Rodin’s iconic sculpture.
BTW, I need to mention that under the feeders, there is a 25 foot drop to the rocks, and the brook below. So, for Rocky, the consequences of failure are very, VERY significant, possibly life threatening.
(S)he tried a few times carefully, but missed, backed off, and came back to study the problem again and again.
By this time I was feeling pretty proud of myself: “good for me, I’m smarter than a squirrel!” (Pretty pathetic, huh?)
So, one morning I get up, and there’s Rocky, sitting right on top of the feeder having a very fine breakfast indeed. I am astonished, and really pissed, (which explains this terrible photo). (S)he made it!! How??
Right after that, I went into full combat mode -– “no rodent is gonna outsmart me…right?”
And for weeks I tried lots of fixes — move the feeders even further from the railing, lengthen the picture wire which holds them, so Rocky couldn’t climb down from above, install all manner of paraphernalia on the railing itself so (s)he couldn’t leap from the railing onto the food… But Rocky eventually defeated every one.
So, then I stopped fighting, and decided to carefully consider my own actions and attitude:
“Michael, why exactly are you angry? Because a squirrel is outsmarting you? Because you imagine you need to win?”
“Win what? Clearly, none of this has anything to do with the price of the bird seeds. They cost basically nothing. What this sounds to me, Michael, is that you are stuck in ‘control mode’: You just gotta have it your way….yes? But why?”
So starting then, I could feel my attitude shifting from anger — first to respect, then to admiration, and finally, to affection.
Now, I look forward to her visit. (S)he always takes only what (s)he needs, & totally respects her fellow (feathered) visitors. They all get along just fine — no tension at all between the species about the food– an excellent example for us humans, BTW.
And as for me? Well, I got to learn, yet again (for the umpteenth time), the same lesson: that my teachers are everywhere, in every possible form — whether sentient or otherwise.
All I need to do is stay open, available, and mindful.
Thanks, Rocky!! I’ll miss you. Please, take good care of yourself. See you next summer. I pray that our creator will allow the two of us to meetup again.Yay!
Metta,
Bullwinkle (aka, Michael)
