A couple days ago I was working in my little kitchen. My home is a split level so the office is 4 feet higher then the main level. I heard something crash into the office window so I sprinted up the stairs to investigate. I looked out the window and down at the ground and saw a dark bird standing there. He appeared to be immobile but in no pain. A closer look and I saw that he was standing on another bird. Well, that was strange. I watched for a little bit and the dark bird moved around and positioned himself on top of bird #2 and began to make jumping movements.
My first impression, being the optimist I am, was that bird #1 was giving artificial respiration to bird #2 and trying to revive it. It was probably his wife. As I stood at my window watching I realized I was seeing a miracle that few people would ever witness and I silently prayed for success and waited with bated breath for the gray bird to show signs of life. Then the realist in me took over. The bird flat on it's back with wings outstretched was a dove. The dark bird perched on it's chest was darker, had stripes on it's tail feathers and a hooked beak which was now ripping the throat out of the bird it it's clutches. It was a chicken hawk! At that moment I realized what a damn fool I was.
The chicken hawk had chased the dove into my window with such force that the dove had fallen to the ground and became easy prey for Mr. Chicken Hawk. Closer examination of said window proved this was not the first time this had happened. The doves tend to hang out in the cherry tree outside the window and the predator birds know this. When the hawk chases a dove it flies into my window and falls to the ground. I now have the curtains closed on all my big windows. I do not like having my windows closed as I feel trapped inside, but that is how it is for now.
And of course, I understand nature enough to know that while the doves eat seeds and such hawks are meat eaters. I am a meat eater, but I can go to the store and buy my food. Nature does not work like that. It is called survival of the fittest. The hawk outsmarted the dove. That is how it is. And isn't life much like that? Somebody holds the mortgage on my house. If I do not pay, they take my house. My car needs gas to run, if I do not fill it up, it does not move. On a daily basis I am outsmarted by the dogs and geese. And the cat. They expect food in their bowl and like a silly fool, I take my money and buy them what they need. Elvira goes to the beauty shop, but I braid my hair. How many of you out there are slaves to the same Gods? (Did you ever notice that GODS and DOGS have the same letters?) Our reward for the attention we give them is they will sometimes let us pat them on the head. Not the geese though. The only thing I get from them is the privilege of cleaning out the goose house 3-4 times a year and carrying water to them in the winter. All they do for me is poop where I need to walk.
So I will keep the curtains closed for a while. When the doves migrate away I will open them back up and delude myself into believing that all is well with the world and no one is eating anyone else. I am an optimist and I shall stay an optimist because to not look for a brighter tomorrow is doom myself to a life of darkness.
So fly away, my little doves! There is a brighter world some where!
My first impression, being the optimist I am, was that bird #1 was giving artificial respiration to bird #2 and trying to revive it. It was probably his wife. As I stood at my window watching I realized I was seeing a miracle that few people would ever witness and I silently prayed for success and waited with bated breath for the gray bird to show signs of life. Then the realist in me took over. The bird flat on it's back with wings outstretched was a dove. The dark bird perched on it's chest was darker, had stripes on it's tail feathers and a hooked beak which was now ripping the throat out of the bird it it's clutches. It was a chicken hawk! At that moment I realized what a damn fool I was.
The chicken hawk had chased the dove into my window with such force that the dove had fallen to the ground and became easy prey for Mr. Chicken Hawk. Closer examination of said window proved this was not the first time this had happened. The doves tend to hang out in the cherry tree outside the window and the predator birds know this. When the hawk chases a dove it flies into my window and falls to the ground. I now have the curtains closed on all my big windows. I do not like having my windows closed as I feel trapped inside, but that is how it is for now.
And of course, I understand nature enough to know that while the doves eat seeds and such hawks are meat eaters. I am a meat eater, but I can go to the store and buy my food. Nature does not work like that. It is called survival of the fittest. The hawk outsmarted the dove. That is how it is. And isn't life much like that? Somebody holds the mortgage on my house. If I do not pay, they take my house. My car needs gas to run, if I do not fill it up, it does not move. On a daily basis I am outsmarted by the dogs and geese. And the cat. They expect food in their bowl and like a silly fool, I take my money and buy them what they need. Elvira goes to the beauty shop, but I braid my hair. How many of you out there are slaves to the same Gods? (Did you ever notice that GODS and DOGS have the same letters?) Our reward for the attention we give them is they will sometimes let us pat them on the head. Not the geese though. The only thing I get from them is the privilege of cleaning out the goose house 3-4 times a year and carrying water to them in the winter. All they do for me is poop where I need to walk.
So I will keep the curtains closed for a while. When the doves migrate away I will open them back up and delude myself into believing that all is well with the world and no one is eating anyone else. I am an optimist and I shall stay an optimist because to not look for a brighter tomorrow is doom myself to a life of darkness.
So fly away, my little doves! There is a brighter world some where!
