Our Wonderful Animal World

Pretty much each day I let our cat (Toby) out for her daily morning constitution, and as well; a sundry of other events that need to be accomplished in her journey of discovery.  On one such day, after leaving the front door, I passed by the windows with a view to our meadow.  I looked out and saw the squirrels that were eating the bird feed that had dropped on to the ground; they were quickly scurrying away into the forest.  It then registered with me why this was happening.  Our cat was encroaching onto their territory.  In thinking about this for a moment, I recalled that the pecking order of God’s creatures is that the larger the animal gets, the more freedom it has to go where it wants to without reservation, while the smaller creatures are in constant watch for danger.

Once in awhile though, I have noticed that caution is thrown into the wind by one of these little animals.  Their purpose is varied according to the situation though.  I have seen a wren chase away our cat when Toby was getting to near its nest, while at other times Toby has been known to catch a bird in mid flight.  At that point I find myself trying desperately to free the creature from the jaws of death. For better or worse, I might add that I have a 50% success rate.  

The tenacity of God’s creatures is amazing to watch as they scurry to and fro each day.  It is like watching a menagerie of life unfolding before one’s eyes when viewing these events taking place day after day. 

For us as humans, we interact seldom with the wildlife around us.  Though there are moments when our two worlds come together, perhaps even collide at times.  Some of the events though are found to be rather humorous.  I recall one day while shelling corn in my uncle’s corncrib, I noticed hundreds of mice scurrying for their lives as the corn avalanched into the drag line below.  Some would even climb up inside our pant legs in their desperate plight for freedom.  It was not uncommon to see a family member jumping around like they were dancing in some competition (myself included.)  It looked rather ridiculous to see this event-taking place, but through these efforts at dance, it secured one’s ability to keep on working without having visitors to the underworld of darkness where rodents were forbidden. 

During one of these events in shelling corn, I observed some strange behavior of that of my pigs that I was raising in the feedlot that bordered the corncrib.  I noticed that they had their mouths gaping and were catching falling mice, who were unfortunate enough to make an unscheduled visit to their domain.  Pigs being very smart realized that they could not catch the little rodents on the cement floor, so they began waiting with mouths gaping as the pigs followed the mice running along the slanted siding above them.  When a mouse was unfortunate enough to loose it’s footing, waiting below for them was a swine greeting committee.  They almost seemed to be cheering the mice on by their oinks and grunts.

There are those moments in time though that we cannot forget.  Once while visiting a zoo in Texas, we stood watching the majestic alligator moving two and fro in the water below.  After reveling over its terrible jaws and stealth, my brother-in-law (Stephen) decided to depart a bit of wisdom to my son.  “See that sign over there William?”  Collectively we all looked over to the direction that Stephen was leading us.  The sign read, “Do not throw coins into the water, they can kill the alligators!”  At that point my brother-in-law knelt down by my son and said, “If you find yourself in the Amazon river and surrounded by alligators, throw them a coin, it may save your life!”

I cannot help but wonder if God, at times looks down on us with a smile upon his face, that is, during those humorous encounters that we have with the animals of his world.