What a surprise!

On our early morning return from walking SiSi, we met a strange stranger on the road. SiSi wanted to go play but the stranger didn't seem interested. In fact, the stranger came out of the end of our drive, crossed the road and headed off in the far-side ditch as quickly as possible. It was, we're quite sure, a muskrat. Why a muskrat was prowling our property can be but speculated on. Hungry? Most likely.

habitat for muskrat homes?

Photo by J. Harrington

We had assumed, incorrectly it turns out, that muskrats stayed inside their houses and ate stored food all Winter, like their cousins the beavers. Not so according to the Minnesota DNR. "Unlike the beaver, the muskrat does not store food for the winter. It needs to eat fresh plants each day, and sometimes it makes channels in the mud to get from its house to reach food under the ice." There's a pond a little North of our property from whence the muskrat might have emerged if the stored food has run out. We'll never know for sure. It's all part of the great mystery we live every day.

horses in hoarfrost

Photo by J. Harrington

We're experiencing another sign of approaching Spring today, slight fog and hoarfrost covering the local flora. It certainly pretties up the neighborhood. In fact, one of our favorite pictures we've taken is of hoarfrost covering a neighbor's pasture and woods (see above).

For You, a Handful of the Greatest Gift

Ray Young Bear

Small-eyed, plump, and with black
leathery hands, Attaskwa, is composed
          and debonair
as it perches on trampled cat tail reeds
beside a quivering, cloud-reflecting pond.
          “Filled
with cosmogony, he’s exceedingly
unselfish,” instructs the branch-shaping
          sculptor.
“Wabami, Look at him, kekenetama,
he knows. And he’s elated to oversee
          what
the daylight brings everyday.”
We focus the camera’s telephoto lens
          and see
details of his coat glittering with drops
of luminescent water.

“To our Grandfather, Kemettoemenana,”
narrates the sculpture, “he magnanimously
          agreed after
the Last Conflict of the Gods to retrieve
a handful of soil from the deep, singular
          ocean that
became land beneath our feet. He
set forth unequivocally a doctrine.
          Listen
very closely, my grandchildren,
nottisemetike, for you may not hear
          these words
again.” Lifting its black nose
to the sky, Attaskwaambles
          to the pond’s
edge and stops as if to pose
before the picture is snapped.
          Behind us,
the sculptor crafts a small
dome-shaped skeletal lodge
          and
embeds it to the ground.

We wholly agree that each day
there are overt and minute changes.
          Even if we
don’t see or if we’re not there, it happens.
Without Muskrat, our Creation—you
          and me,
would be zero. From the alluvial soil
delivered from oceanic depths, we
          were made
thereafter. His courage is brazen like
that of a Wetase, Veteran, because he
          dove
unflinchingly to retrieve Earth.

Oblivious of our presence, Attaskwa
slides into the pond and swims
          to the middle,
creating a cape-like effect of waves
behind him that dissipates
          the blue sky
and its clouds. Indicative of his
sacrifice, we learn Attaskwafloated
          lifeless
to the surface. In gratitude Earth-maker
resurrected him. So when personal
          contributions
are contemplated, ask yourself,
my daughter and son, what did I
          sacrifice?
Think specifically of what he did.
Use him, my children, netabenoemetike,
          as an example
of what must be done to rectify
society’s misdirection. Only then
          will our,
language, religion, culture, and history
thrive in the Muskrat’s benevolent
          shadow.

As he approaches the mound
of his home, Attaskwalooks back
          at us briefly.
And before his cape of waves reaches
the shoreline, he dives into the dark
          green pond.
Before we pack up the equipment,
the sculptor hands us sacred
          tobacco
to sprinkle delicately over
the water animal’s architectural
          tranquility.

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Please be kind to each other while you can.