Thankful today for a mixed bag

Yesterday, there was a bald eagle perched on the edge of the ice at the Sunrise River pools in the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area. Today the Better Half and I saw a nice whitetail buck chasing a doe across some harvested farm fields and, later in the morning, a pair of wild turkeys that tried to commit suicide by running across the road in front of a red Chevy pickup that was in front of us. The pickup driver was too quick for the turkeys and the truck's brake lights gave us plenty of warning so we stopped in time to avoid the back end of the pickup. I'm thankful that we live somewhere that there's wildlife sometimes to see and always to be on the watch for. I'm also thankful that the Endangered Species Act helped restore populations of America's symbol to the point that seeing one in Minnesota is not a rare or uncommon event.

thankful populations of our national symbol have been restored

Photo by J. Harrington

It remains to be seen if I'll end up being thankful for the animal repellant we bought this morning at a local feed and grain store. It's supposed to last for several months and work on deer, mice, rabbits and a variety of local varmints that complicate country life. We'll put some packets of it in the dash of the tractor and zip tie some other packets to the black chokeberry bushes the deer keep pruning. If the mice don't nest in the tractor and chew through the wires, and we get at least a small crop of chokeberries next Autumn, I'll be thankful we discovered (were told about) the repellant we bought. It may let us avoid having to work on the tractor in January or February to replace the repellants (supposed to last up to a month) that we recently bought at the hardware store. For now, we're thankful we have something that's supposed to work for several months and that we have a new entry to place in our country living "live and learn" file.

Winter, whitetail doe

Photo by J. Harrington

If you enjoy short poems, prose poems, flash fiction and nonfiction, you might want to see if you can find a bookstore that carries a new publication called Stone Gathering, A Reader. It comes our quarterly. We get ours at Scout & Morgan books in Cambridge, but you can also subscribe [follow the  publication link]. So far we've read about one and one half of the three volumes published and have thoroughly enjoyed everything we've read. We're thankful the publisher decided to start this "little literature for the rest of us" effort.

The Thanksgivings

By Harriet Maxwell Converse

We who are here present thank the Great Spirit that we are here

          to praise Him.

We thank Him that He has created men and women, and ordered

          that these beings shall always be living to multiply the earth.

We thank Him for making the earth and giving these beings its products

          to live on.

We thank Him for the water that comes out of the earth and runs

          for our lands.

We thank Him for all the animals on the earth.

We thank Him for certain timbers that grow and have fluids coming

          from them for us all.

We thank Him for the branches of the trees that grow shadows

          for our shelter.

We thank Him for the beings that come from the west, the thunder

          and lightning that water the earth.

We thank Him for the light which we call our oldest brother, the sun

          that works for our good.

We thank Him for all the fruits that grow on the trees and vines.

We thank Him for his goodness in making the forests, and thank

          all its trees.

We thank Him for the darkness that gives us rest, and for the kind Being

          of the darkness that gives us light, the moon.

We thank Him for the bright spots in the skies that give us signs,

          the stars.

We give Him thanks for our supporters, who had charge of our harvests.

We give thanks that the voice of the Great Spirit can still be heard

          through the words of Ga-ne-o-di-o.

We thank the Great Spirit that we have the privilege of this pleasant

          occasion.

We give thanks for the persons who can sing the Great Spirit's music,

          and hope they will be privileged to continue in his faith.

We thank the Great Spirit for all the persons who perform the ceremonies

          on this occasion.

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