Bunny vs. Human (Round Two)

     A rabbit was back in my garden this evening when I went out to water.   I have a feeling it was contemplating eating one of my green onions, and then to hide its mischievous nature sat on it when I came out the door.   The stalk was broken,  of course.   I said good evening to my hopping friend, and pointed it to my son who was oblivious to the brown fur ball sitting in my onions.   He decided to be helpful and chase it out.   As for the green stalk, I quietly harvested and washed it.   The little one had his first taste of home grown green onion and winced.    I took a taste and immediately thought of my twice baked potato recipe.   We both said prayers of thanks for the first fruits of garden- his to the garden angels and mine to Don and Beli and the nature spirits.   I left what was left of the onion as an offering.   It was gone a few hours later.   I am not sure who won this round whether or not it was me or the rabbit.    Perhaps, we both got a taste of the goodies yet to come.  

Bunny vs. Humans (Round One)

Last night, I went out and checked on my garden.   I found a medium sized rabbit sitting in the midst of my lawn, nibbling on grass and weeds.   I tried to have a long talk with it.   I admired its beauty and I admired its bravery.  I even encouraged it to nibble on the grass and weeds, but leave my garden alone.   We could be friends,  I thought -just don't touch the garden.   It just sat and watched, it's nose occasionally twitching.   Earlier in the week, after my cucumber seedlings went missing, my son and I had teasingly made remarks about bunny stew:

"Please, my garden you should eschew

Or you shall be made into bunny stew".

This morning, however,  I felt sickened.   I found a rabbit and a small mouse carcass around the house.    I doubt it was the rabbit from last night.   It was probably a few days old, but for the most part it had been stripped bare.   The mouse had been a rather fresh kill.   I felt guilty.   Had I unwittingly invoked something which was killing the cute fuzzy suburban creatures?  Kill them before they eat my garden-suburban warfare?   Or was this just nature's way?   It's most likely the latter, but being the softy that I am, I feel guilty.   I realize that the rabbit fed something else, and that there is probably an overpopulation of rabbits in the area.  I saw the flies and the ants eating away at the carcass.  They, too, needing food.   I understand it on a  rational scientific level, but sometimes, watching it and feeling it in action are two very different things.   This is what I am trying to wrap my head around.  Perhaps, its just the recognition of it, too.  It's not something we think about on a normal basis.   Later today, I will try to gather some rabbit fur, and leave an offering for the spirit of the rabbit.  May the rabbit spirit find its peace.

Blessings!
Stonegiver

Old Oak

 My neighbor's oak trees :) 

Spidey senses

Spiders exist.   I know, it’s a blanket fact.   I feel that a good portion of souls out there would rather have a dead spider than a live spider especially in the house.   I don’t blame them, finding a spider in the house is a personal affront to my ability to keep a clean house.  I am not a squisher, though.  It is not fair to the spider.   I am the kind gentle person that would take the spider outside, and let it roam free, if it decides upon its own cruel fate and rebuilds its web in another’s house, its fair game for the spider to be squashed.    More likely though,  it will decided I offered a hospitable home with numerous places for it to find food and shelter, and move its little 8 legged body back in.    Life happens.    

            One afternoon, while taking a shower, I had a visitor of the 8 legged varieties.   It was a pretty yellow spider and rather harmless to me.    It lowered itself down on a piece of spider silk with not a care in the world, that I was large and that there were steady streams of a liquid being shot at my body.   Perhaps, it wanted a drink.   I haven’t tried having a steady conversation with spiders-I get mixed up with the discussion of wrap bugs up and drink, and it is kind of hard to get past that conversation.    Instead, I watched it.   I marvelled at it actually.   It came down without a care in the world.   Perhaps, it wasn’t paying attention, I am not sure.   Then, it felt the droplets of water coming from the shower!  I watched the consternation coming from its little body.   It shrunk itself up trying to decide what it was going to do.   It hesitated and thought about dropping down further.    I tried to mentally urge it to go back up.  I am sure my telepathic link with the spider was tenuous, at best, but I tried.    It eventually went back up into the rafters not even leaving its draft line or a trace that a moment before it had almost showered itself out of existence.   It did what it needed to do, even if it meant heading back towards the rafters.  

One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.    I have a piece of knitting that I have been working on for a few weeks.   It’s a relatively simple design (it is patch for an afghan).     I have been working on it while watching TV with the young one.   My goal is to have it finished in time for this weekend.   I have been trying to meditate while working on it, as to the meaning of the particular pattern, and I get stuck.    The pattern is for the rune Ehwaz which should mean transportation and gradual development and steady progress.   Yeah, right!    Steady progress until lo and behold I didn’t count right, and it means pulling out and starting again.   Yet, I learned a lesson from that spider about being aware of what we are doing and then doing it.   I don’t know if its spidey senses told it anything about large amounts of water hurling down or that large wet humanoid like creature near vast amounts of water might mean squish.   When it did recognize the danger, it decided on a course of action, even if it meant tearing up and out.   Sometimes, development and progress may mean going back, re-doing, and figuring things out.    It can also be awareness that perhaps the time isn’t right to do something.   Yet, one must stay ever present and ever vigilant.