Haiti and the Opposite of Consumption

This photo was taken just south of Taholah, Washington on the Quinault Indian Reservation. On the day I took the photo, two members of the Quinault Indian Nation saw us taking photographs of seagulls, struck up a conversation, and generously offered us an opportunity to walk on a restricted tribal beach. We very much appreciated their kindness.

Today I've been pondering the situation in Haiti and the disparate economic conditions of Haiti and its neighbor, the United States. This quote from Raj Patel's excellent book, The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy, struck me as pertinent:

In many North American indigenous cultures, generosity is a central behavior in a broader social and economic system. One anecdotal account examined what happened when boys from white and Lakota communities received a pair of lollipops each. Both sets of boys put the first one straight in their mouths. The white boys put the second one in their pockets, while the Native American boys presented it to the nearest boy who didn't have one. It's not surprising to see that culture can shape how resources are accumulated and distributed, and dictate the social priority of saving over sharing, but the experiment also reminds is that the opposite of consumption isn't thrift -- it's generosity.

Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons:
AM: 4 (Old Tailless Guy and Not-so-Crabby Mama's 3 teenagers)
PM: 9 (both mamas and all 7 teenagers)
Deer: 0

Deer Stories #1

Here's one of the does, waiting for grain last Sunday morning.

A few years ago we had an unusually long cold spell with snow on the ground so for several weeks we had more deer in our yard than usual. One of the deer families consisted of a mama doe, her sister or oldest daughter, and the mama doe's teenagers -- a doe and a buck.

The three does were placid and friendly but we nicknamed the buck "Brat Boy" in honor of his rambunctious behavior - swatting his sister with his hooves, dumping the food bowl over, galloping around in circles, and generally making a nuisance of himself. Eventually the snow melted and the little family wandered off to their summer abode.

The following autumn, I came home from work one evening at twilight, pulled into the driveway, got out of the car, and turned my back to the front of the house while I got packages out of the car. I heard a snort behind me, turned around, and in the dim light saw the shapes of six or seven deer standing together on the lawn. As my eyes focused, I realized that the snort had come from the largest and most beautiful of the deer -- a deer who was standing about six feet behind me and who had elegant antlers. The large deer was Brat Boy, come back for one more visit, politely asking for grain for his harem. It was wonderful to see him again, all grown up and full of dignity.

Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons: 0
Deer: 0

A Place to Overwinter

We spent the afternoon at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, watching swans, hawks, eagles, and waterfowl of all sorts. Our best guess, after poring through the Sibley Guide to Birds and the Smithsonian's Birds of North America, is that this handsome bird is a juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk. The refuge is located on the Washington side of the Columbia River, north of Vancouver.

In addition to gorgeous grassland and wetland scenery, and more birds than you can imagine, the area is also home to what used to be Cathlapotle Village -- a Chinook village that Lewis and Clark visited on their way to and from Fort Clatsop. For your amusement, here is a quote from Capt. William Clark's journal, dated November 5, 1805, describing a night at what is now the Ridgefield NWR:

I slept but very little last night for the noise kept up during the whole of the night by the swans, geese...brant [and] ducks on a small sand island...they were immensley numerous and their noise horrid.

(Captain Clark had many strengths but spelling was not one of them.)

Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons: 6 (Old Tailless Guy, his Little Woman, Not-so-Crabby Mama's 4 teenagers)
Deer: 3 (the 3 does).
Natural history note: Since the 4 teenagers' mama wasn't present this morning, the youngest doe spent a considerable amount of time standing quite close to them, observing their goings-on with deep interest.

Eagle Eye

Today was a glorious day at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. Here are some facts and figures about this magical place:

The Refuge provides nesting and resting areas for wading birds, raptors, songbirds and migratory waterfowl on 3000 acres of salt and freshwater marshes, grasslands, riparian, and mixed forest habitats. Over 175 species of birds have been identified at the Refuge and during the spring migration 20,000 ducks and 300 geese find food, shelter and water there. The Refuge has recently worked to restore the historic estuary by breaching century old dikes and reconnecting the area with Puget Sound.

This photo shows one of 4 adult eagles we saw keeping guard in the willows, accompanied by 5 or 6 completely brown juveniles. While we were there, several flocks of Lesser Canada Geese flew in, circling and honking, then landing and feeding. They spend January and February at the refuge, fattening up before they migrate north in the spring. It was such a beautiful day and the exhibition was so amazing that I wish we'd had lawn chairs, fleece blankets, and couple of thermoses of hot chocolate.

Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons: 9 (both mamas and all of their 7 playful teenagers)
Deer: 3 (two adult does and a teenager)

Encouragement Along the Way

"Sometimes" by Sheenagh Pugh

Sometimes things don't go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost, green thrives, the crops don't fail,
sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war,
elect an honest man, decide they care
enough that they can't leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best efforts do not go
amiss, sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen: may it happen for you.

Good poem, eh?

Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons: 9 (both families - 2 mamas, 7 teenagers)
Deer: 5 (two families, all does)

6 a.m. - Muttley in the Morning

Having Muttley the Dog has brought a whole new level of structure to my life, including the requirement to get up pretty darned early in the morning to take him out. I've seen more sunrises in the last year than in all my prior years put together.

But that's what love does, I guess. Pre-dawn walks with Muttley are a teeny tiny example of what Viktor Frankl said:

Those who have a "why" to live, can bear with almost any "how."

Including getting up early.

Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons: 4 (Crabby Mama and her 3 teenagers).
Deer: 3 (a doe and two yearlings)

A Final Thought on the Pleasures of Inefficiency

A few weeks ago our electric coffee grinder died of natural causes at an extremely advanced age. In dire need of a substitute until we could get to our local MegaLoMart to buy another electric grinder, we decided to try my grandparents' ancient hand-cranked grinder.

We fully expected that use of the ancient grinder would cause large amounts of boredom, irritation, and grumpiness.

Boy were we wrong. Even though the grinder is old and worn, the wood and decorated cast iron are beautiful to look at and fun to handle. The fragrance of the beans fills the kitchen because there's no sealed lid on the top. Grinding coffee now takes a bit more time but the whole experience is so pleasurable that the added time feels more like a treasured ritual than like a chore.

We no longer plan to buy another electric grinder.

Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons: 4 (Crabby Mama and her 3 teenagers)
Deer: 0