Through My Window on the Woods

As I sit here at my computer and look at the snow flakes through my office window, I am procrastinating. That is probably my biggest failing. With a cluttered desk and a list of phone calls to make, lesson plans to complete, and a list of Christmas gifts I need to start, I want to do nothing but watch the fat gray squirrels who do not procrastinate. A pair of them hustles over the brown leaves, digging down hunting or burying the large acorns that covered the ground this fall.

Although I know squirrels are just like rats only graced with a fluffy tail and pretty fur, I have an affinity for them. Like all the other living things in my woods, their resourcefulness in finding food and shelter impresses me as winter blows in. Beyond the now empty trees, the blue mounds of mountains, edges faded with fog and snow, remind me there are more creatures stirring in the higher regions. Deer, bear, raccoons, opossums, ground hogs, all live with the wild turkeys, pilliated woodpeckers, and the wild boar.

Like a voyeur, I sit at my window. My window, a silent move screen, provides a view of daily lives of active animals and birds. Humans must seem lazy to the wild things out there. We sit on the deck and talk and laugh. We take walks just to walk. We are happy to watch the animals as they work.

The gray squirrel doesn’t worry. He lives in the moment. He is doing what he is supposed to do, what he must do, according to his innate nature. He can’t think about his mortality or that of his family.

But I am thinking about my loved ones who will never watch another sunset from their home on the waters of the bay. Who will not enjoy the gulls from their deck or feel the breezes in their faces. Who will not hug their grandchildren, or surround themselves with family this Christmas.

Yes, those squirrels are lucky little rodents. They only know that today, now, is the time to gather and save the acorns. Today is the only thing that matters. I should take a page from the book of the gray squirrel and pay more attention to this day, each day of my life, and make it count for something. Time grows shorter and shorter. If only we could purchase it and stock it for later use.

That reminds me. I'd better get out my checkbook and pay some bills. Ugh!


Flicker on the suet feeder