People and Dogs

Dogs have been around for centuries of various breeds and purposes. People today mostly own dogs for reasons of protection, hunting companions, or family pets. My family bought our German Shorthaired dog, Rascal, for the latter two reasons.

Like most German Shorthaired dogs Rascal is an extremely affection and playful dog. He could be lying in a deep sleep at the foot of my bed, but whenever a family member comes home he is off the bed and at the door before I can even blink. My family jokes that he is our 90 pound lap dog. He just always wants to be near us.

My Dad originally bought Rascal because German Shorthaired dogs are supposed to be versatile hunters. I remember the first time Rascal pointed. My Dad was acting like Rascal had just taken his first steps. He was out in our backyard when he caught the scent of an animal in the woods. Every muscle tensed and froze, his right paw curled up into his chest, and his tail went completely still and straight out from his body. We could have served tea on his back without spilling a drop. Ever since then Rascal anticipates hunting season like a child anticipates Christmas.

Rascal is now a member of our family. He is very loyal and protective. At night he lays in a central location where he can find all of us and watch the living room for intruders. Whenever one of us is upset, Rascal is close by to lay his head in our laps or give us a doggy kiss on the cheek. Our family would not be complete without Rascal.

The Need for Bugs

In my family and among my friends I’m known as the girly person. I don’t do dirt, don’t break finger nails, don’t take out the trash, and I have never, ever had to cut the grass or change a flat tire. It’s not that these things are difficult or impossible to learn; I just don’t have to do them. Other people do them for me. (I may be slightly spoiled but not much).

Surprisingly, I got a laugh from Becca’s blog about bugs (http://backyardtransliteration.blogspot.com/2009/02/on-bugs.html), especially the part about her shrieking as she’s carrying the stink bug outside instead of killing it. It reminded me of my college roommate. She was such a tom-boy. When we would walk down the street, I would get side tracked by a good looking man and she would get side tracked by the truck said man was driving. The one thing that she could not tolerate was bugs.

I found this hilarious. If she would find a bug in our house, she would first shriek, find a shoe, and start throwing the shoe at the bug to kill it. No bug was safe in my house when she was around. Even more surprising was that I was the one who became the official bug exterminator in the house even though I was the girly one.

To annoy my friend I would always refuse to kill the bug. Instead, I would catch and set if free outside. This annoyed my roommate because she said that doing that just gave the bug the opportunity to find its way back inside our house.

I set the bugs free simply to annoy my roommate, but after reading Becca’s blog I realize that my torture tactic was actually good for nature and its creatures. I am under the belief that everything was put on this earth for a reason – bugs included. There is such a thing called a food chain (which bugs are a part of whether we like it or not) that helps all life forms thrive to make nature and our earth the way it was intended. Humans should try to not mess with this system as much as possible. Will that stop me from killing a spider the next time I find one in the house? I guess I’ll have to wait to find out.

Nature's Oddity

Translucent masses of grey
Swirling in the sky;
Tears streaming down
To drown the earth –
Nature at its gloomiest.

Don’t ask why, but I found myself sitting outside this afternoon with the rain filled clouds emptying their near freezing rain on my head. The cold and wet seemed to mirror my own personal existence right now. I felt dampened by work and life in general – cold and detached.

The cool, winter wind rocked the swing ever so slightly trying to soothe my pessimistic feelings. The world appeared so dreary – as if the grayness from the clouds was falling down upon the earth with each raindrop.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something out of the ordinary -- a pink balloon. It was frolicking in the wind – the only glimpse of color in the dreary afternoon surroundings.

I found myself looking around to find the owner of this balloon, but there was no child or vehicle in sight. I sat there mesmerized by this mysterious ray of color until it was beyond the point of sight. After a while I realized that I was smiling – sitting there in the freezing rain, soaking wet, but smiling.

Finally, I realized I was smiling at the oddity of the moment. I knew no one would believe me. When I told my family, they thought I had been hallucinating or dreaming. For some reason seeing that balloon snapped me out of my misery. I couldn’t explain why things happen, and I certainly couldn’t control them. The only thing I could do was chalk it up to experience and move on like the balloon that danced around the earth on a rainy afternoon.

Defining the Abstract

I love reading my classmate, Becca's, blogs; I can usually relate so well to the things she mentions, and they spark my own thoughts. Her recent blog about the horrendous wind storms is another one I can relate to. I loved how she described the wind: "I love wind, as a rule. I'm fascinated by a force made visible only by what it's affecting, made audible only by loose ends" (http://backyardtransliteration.blogspot.com/2009/02/ja-es-ist-doch-windig.html). I would have never thought to describe something invisible as visible because of the objects surrounding it.

There are so many abstract things all around us. Most of the time we simply accept them as abstract and move on, but if we actually stopped to think about these abstract things we might be able to find a tangible way of connecting with them. Let’s take the concept of love (being that it’s Valentine’s Day). Love is an abstract concept, but we see it all around us. I see it between my parents who have been married for 27 years. I see it between my Dad and my grandmother who have been mother and son for 52 years. I even see it between my dogs who refuse to go anywhere without the other one present.

Nature has a way of trying to trick us. It is filled with abstract and mysterious things and happenings. If we would just slow down long enough to notice and contemplate things, we might actually feel more connected to nature and life.

A Battle of Wits

I am normally not a beach person because my skin is very sensitive to the sun. If I wear sun screen that is less than SPF of 35, I become a lobster. For some reason, I find myself at the beach once every four years. Am I asking for sunburn? No, I simply want to spend time with my family, and they insist on going to the beach once every four years.

The only saving grace of the beach is the time of day when the sun wants to be in the sky but the horizon refuses to give way to its persistent demands. This is a time when most people are still in their beds recovering from the day and night before, but I see this as time for a reality check.

Almost every morning of that week-long vacation I find myself sitting on the beach and staring down the ocean waves. It is kind of like I’m taunting them to come and take me away. The ocean breathes upon me at Poseidon’s command warning me of its leashed power, and I stubbornly sit there with the wind slashing at my face.

But for some reason, no matter how long I sit there, I always lose the staring contest. It is at this moment that I realize how small of a part I play on this Earth compared to that of the vast ocean. My problems are so tiny in comparison to Nature. From that point on I find my mind completely at ease, and I am ready to take on another day.

Nature's Mystery

The man in the moon
Peeking through the skeletal trees
Is always watching –
The sentry of the night.

I have a phobia – the dark – but I find myself sitting outside during this full moon on the first winter night that isn’t below zero anyways (I can’t see my breath for once). As I sit here, I’m surprised to feel completely at ease. It must be because of the illumination radiating from the full moon in the cloudless sky.

I look around my yard with the trees surrounding me hiding who knows what. What makes this moment different from all the other times my heart races when night descends? The shadows are still there. The unknown is still hidden. Uncertainty lurks just beyond the edges of light.

But I still feel no fear. In fact, I feel at peace. The night is so quiet and calm. For the first time all day my mind is free to wander without intrusion. Nature’s moon leaves me feeling safe and protected so that I can enjoy the solitude of this night.

Nature always has a way of protecting us. The infamous man in the moon eases the fears of the night like a giant night-light in the sky. The trees create a barrier of privacy. The rustling of the wind soothes away the nerves. How does nature always have a way of putting things into perspective?

Nature's Reality Check

A classmate makes an interesting observation: “The snow makes it clear where we’ve been. What it doesn’t as effectively reveal is where we’re going.” After reading Becca’s blog (http://backyardtransliteration.blogspot.com/2009/01/quo-vadis.html) I immediately went outside to stare at the frozen, snow/ice covered ground.

There all over my yard were the footprints of my two dogs, my dad’s size 10 foot and my much smaller one (we are the only two that have a need to walk outside in the snow to reach our vehicles). Our footprints converge in some points where I tried to step in his already made steps to keep my dress shoe clad feet dry.

This simple sign of dependency makes me question exactly where I am going in life. When will I step out of my parents’ footprints and step out on my own? I have plans, dreams, and goals that I work towards every day, but when will the dependency stop?

This is a reminder of how nature awakens us to reality. Who would have thought that footprints frozen in the snow could cause someone to question their life’s ambition? Nature has a way of uncovering things and simplifying things. The only thing we have to do is stop long enough to notice.

Life's Simplicity

When I was young, my favorite time of day was night, especially a clear summer night. On these nights I would lie on the deck off of my back porch and just stare up into the heavens. There were no city lights to intrude and only the sounds of the crickets.

My Dad and I would lie out there for hours – on our backs with the cooling night breeze offering a break from the summer sun. He would point out the big and little dipper while we argued over which sparkling ball of fire the North Star was. The one constellation that both of us automatically could find was Orion’s Belt. Those three luminaries were unmistakable even to my childish eyes.

There was only one rule made by tacit agreement: we could talk about nothing but the sky. After about ten minutes my entire world was consumed by the sky. Nothing else existed – no siblings, no chores, nothing but the gases burning millions of light years away.

I often wonder where those innocent nights disappeared to. One day I’m lying on my back and the next I’m too busy to even notice the darkness. Where did all of life’s simplicity go?

Free as a Bird

Outside there are no fences:
Open fields with no direction,
Vast forests with paths abound,
And endless skies of possibilities.

Society imposes the inevitable:
Buildings of entrapment,
Roads to guide us,
And ceilings that limit us.

Where’s the balance?

I’m sitting in my swing shivering once again, but this was a much needed break. Inside there is a multitude of things that need done. Outside I feel like I’m all alone and free of time constraints. For some reason not too many people just go outside to sit right before sundown on a February day in Pennsylvania (I can only imagine what the people are thinking as they drive past in their heated cars).

As I sit here regaining what’s left of my sanity, I notice a lonely bird flying in the sky. It looks like a crow, but I’m not really sure. I think birds are the dirtiest of animals, but today I find myself wishing to trade places. I would love to experience the freedom of flying in the vast skies without any limitations. I imagine myself soaring over the Earth and admiring its beauty (even if most of the wildlife is hibernating). Of course, I know that there is more to a bird’s life than flying over the land, but I just want to experience the feeling of the crisp winter breeze ruffling through my feathers – complete freedom just once.