Reuben is a big fan of the creek that runs behind my folks' house. When he woke up I asked him what he wanted to do he responded with " rocks and water" which is his name for the creek. We walked to it and while Reuben waded around I spied this:
A praying mantis eating a damselfly. He made short work of his meal. It was pretty amazing to see. I also caught sight of a school of minnows frantically swimming around our feet. They were being hunted by a larger fish who didn't want to come any closer to us. The little fish were using us as a refuge but when they strayed too far I saw the big fish dart in and gobble them up. Meanwhile the surviving damselflies were swooping around gobbling up gnats and Mosquitos making the stream a pleasant place. I didn't get a single bug bite which is a big contrast from my backyard where the Mosquitos attack us unmolested. I pointed all this activity out to Reuben. It made me appreciate how wonderful a complete ecosystem with predators is! It also made me think about how Darwin described nature as being in a constant state of war. And I was struck that if someone was to truly commune with nature they would probably end up a pretty violent individual.
3 comments:
The lion's trail is a great place!
I'm Marty Stouffer, and I approve this post.
hehe. loved this post!
katy,
hey, i've been out of it for so long. you had miriam the day we were rafting down the henry's fork of the snake river in idaho.
she's beautiful and you chose a great name. i like it, but i am partial to old-fashioned names.
it sounds like you're adjusting. my hat goes off to you. taking care of two little ones sounds so hard to me. but i guess you just figure things out.
today is my last day of "maternity" leave. it's back to the old work for me tomorrow. although my first two weeks back will be 1/2 days. i should be able to manage, but i've gotten completely out of the work mindset.
take care!
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