My pre dawn walk this
morning capped off an interesting few days in terms of interactions with
wildlife. After the past few days of heatwave and tossing and turning all
night, heading out the door in the cool morning air seemed like the best tonic.
Entered the top of the
alleyway next to my place only to spot a couple of feral cats down the bottom
end, furtively depositing something quickly before taking off at a great rate
of knots. It looked like one had a kitten in her mouth, but not to be. Coming
closer I discovered two beheaded bunnies had been abandoned in their flight
from the enemy, namely me, but when I returned an hour later both bunnies were
nowhere to be seen. Obviously no miracle resurrection had occurred, rather those
sneaky ferals had also returned to reclaim their breakfast.
In the interests
of not offending anyone, I decided to resist displaying photographic evidence of my discovery!
Faced that wonderful task of mowing the yard the
other day before the temperature rose too much, only to pen this little poem soon
after, following an altercation with one of my arch enemies.
He might’ve only been half
grown
But a huntsman nonetheless
Had fallen from the tree I
passed
And crawled across my chest.
Despatched forthwith on to
the ground
As I hopped up and down and
round
He barely escaped with legs
intact
I nearly killed him that’s a
fact.
He lay there stunned but
still alive
No doubt with some relief
But he should’ve known to
mess with me
Would only bring him grief.
He limped off to a hiding
place
In the long dry unmown grass
Lest I chew him up and spit
him out
Next time the mower passed.
And that’s not all. Monday
morning found me trimming the creeper outside our office which grows like a
weed at this time of year. Went to grab a strand of what I thought was a dead piece
of sticky weed which grows in abundance and drives us crazy, only to take my
hand away quickly as it was soft and certainly didn’t feel right.
What I’d grabbed was a handful
of stick insect, not just one, but two. They weren’t joined at the hip, but
they were definitely joined, and there they stayed happily for most of the day
enjoying their amorous secret rendezvous in relative privacy.
And then there was the bull
ant the other day, heading straight for me as I sat on a stump at the edge of
the bush. I picked him up on the end of a stick and deposited him down again, and
again, and again, and so we continued that ant and me for about fifteen
minutes. Every time he turned right round and made a beeline for me, determined
to reach his goal. Taught me a lesson in patience and persistence.
As long as beasties don’t
take me by surprise I’m pretty ok, so I hope this is not a foretaste of a
summer filled with moments set to test my heart rate. However, the one bright
spot in this morning’s walk was to find a little patch of morning dew, a
refreshing sight after such a warm night.
