Hi! Welcome. Shortly after I took this picture of an angry, red sun rising behind the trees, I went back across the road, up the driveway and into the house. I then filled the front bird feeder, went back outside and hung it up. About the time I was doing all of this, the neighborhood black bear (not full grown, more than a cub) was casually sauntering along the north side of the house, apparently making his/her rounds (gender unknown) looking for errant trash cans (ours are in the garage) and bird feeders (see above). As I grabbed the camera, "Bearly There" [like that name?] wandered through the side yard and stopped to check out the compost heap. I'm guessing coffee grounds and corn husks didn't offer much appeal. There's no photo of the bear because the compost heap is screened from the house by a number of trees and I wasn't passionate enough about getting Bearly's picture to go down the deck stairs and get closer so I could get a clear shot. Having spent most of my adult life as a rugged outdoors person hunter/fisher, my next most immediate thought was: "I need [not want, need] a bear-size caliber handgun for protection." Si-Si and I could have been attacked while on our morning constitutional. I then pictured clearly what the scene would look like as I tried to quickly extract a handgun from its holster [either on my hip or in my armpit] while faced with a charging bear and a panicking Si-Si. I followed that with the scenario of taking out the bird feeder while "packing" and the bear comes around the corner of the house, all of 15 or 20 feet away. If you've ever seen a Keystone Cops or Marx Brothers movie... So, maybe I should hang a couple of pots together from Si-Si's collar so they can bang together and scare Bearly (only one? unknown) away. Maybe I'll try some of the ideas on this bear smart web site. Since I'm still working on whether a black bear is one of my totem animals, I don't want to limit myself to options that may be terminal for the bear, Si-Si or me. In fact, I think it's time to put thoughts of bears in the context of these questions from Mary Oliver.
THE MOTH, THE MOUNTAINS,
THE RIVERS
Who can guess the luna's sadness who lives so
briefly? Who can guess the impatience of stone
longing to be ground down, to be part again of
something livelier? Who can imagine in what
heaviness the rivers remember their original
clarity?
Strange questions, yet I have spent worthwhile
time with them. And I suggest then to you also,
that your spirit grow in curiosity, that your life
be richer than it is, that you bow to the earth as
you feel how it actually is, that we--so clever, and
ambitious, and selfish, and unrestrained--are only
one design of the moving, the vivacious many.
Thanks for listening. Come again when you can. Rants, raves and reflections served here daily.
Happy Independence Day! I hope you enjoy it. This is the day we celebrate our Declaration of Independence from England. Having been born and bred in Boston, I know more than a little about the original Tea Party and am not easily fooled by foolish imposters. Our original declaration of independence increased our interdependence as individuals and as states. Our war of independence was won, in part, due to our dependence on France. Too many contemporary conservatives would have us believe that we suffer from too much government. Someone should tell them that the time has passed when we can head for the mountains and live as Jeremiah Johnson did. Or, if they really want to be independent, get a gun and a horse and get the hell out of town. Just don't use fossil fuel vehicles, or roads, or plastic containers or ... I'm sure you get the picture. Roads are build to link people and communities. They increase and ease interdependence. Fossil fuels and plastics are only produced by the joint, interdependent effort of many people with many different skills and tools. All of which is a long-winded way of getting to the Fourth Freedom, Freedom from Fear. Roosevelt said this "means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such
a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an
act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the
world." I hope, and expect, that if he were writing the Four Freedoms speech today, he would also reference worldwide reduction in greenhouse gases as a requisite to freedom from fear. The thought of a world with increased frequency and intensity of tornadoes and hurricanes and droughts and floods and wars (over oil) and pestilence (West Nile virus) scares the hell out of me. In fact, it brings to mind the lines from Bob Dylan's (now there's an independent soul) great song "Masters of War"
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed...
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do.
The real difference is that with climate change, there are no Masters of War. There's just all us independent, interdependent souls trying to get ahead and live the good life, aided and abetted by co-conspirators British Petroleum (Deepwater Horizon), Exxon (Valdez), TransCanada (Keystone Pipeline), General Motors, Saudi Arabia (15 of 19 9/11 hijackers)... the list goes on, leading to the question: what the hell are we going to do about it? Our leaders these days only seem capable of following us. We need to reach agreement so they can act. Our independence and freedom from fear depend on it. Let's meet after the parade on Main Street. (Do you still have a Main Street, or has it been buried in a Big Box?) Thanks for listening. By the way, I thought the purple prairie clover in the picture looked a little like "bombs bursting in air," but was much prettier and quieter. What do you think? Rants, raves and reflections served here daily.
