I love the fact that we live only 20 minutes away from a thriving city, yet are very much in the country. I am a country girl at heart. We moved to the country when I was about 11 years old, and was able to have my own Shetland pony, wander through fields of bluebonnet and indian paintbrushes, and take my dog, Skipper, exploring on the 35 acres of land that we owned. After our chores were done, like picking endless rows of green beans, feeding the chickens and gathering eggs, and stretching fence, we could stay out and play all day. I walk every morning just to be outside and commune with nature. I hate being couped up.
Bill, on the other hand, has an uncomfortable truce with nature. I've never seen someone who has such bad luck with creation. If a bird is going to poop on someone, it'll be Bill. I'll have to tell you the story someday about the kamakazi seagull that let loose a big one on his chest in the middle of Epcot Center. He gets bit by more mosquitoes. He is deathly afraid of bees. When we went tubing on the Medina river, he was the one that scooped the helgramites into his shorts and got pinched by their dagger-like pinchers.
For him, being in the country is about keeping nature at bay. He cuts the tall grass from around the trailer. At night, when he prefers to empty the black tank for the sake of our neighbors, he takes a flashlight to be sure no critters cross his path. And, I am thankful for this one, he sprays for ants and roaches around the entire site perimeter with the most powerful pesticide he can find at Home Depot, so they wont get in our trailer.
I was afraid he'd kill every living thing that came close, but we seem to have a nursery for reptiles in the hollow tree next to our site. A baby lizard crawled up the camping chair I was sitting on, and sunbathed on my arm for the longest time. Brendan found a tiny worm-sized snake slithering through the grass. We've found walking-sticks and preying mantises around the trailer, and more frogs than I dared to think existed anymore. So far, no horned toads, but I keep an eye out. They truly are endangered.
Our RV is parked up next to a fence. On the other side is an open field for cattle to graze on. Our neighbor puts out corn so the deer come close to feed. When we first arrived, there was a herd of three or four adults that came regularly to eat the corn, while a spotted fawn hung back in the tall grass. A racoon has ventured across on several occasions and ate the towel that Bill had under the BBQ grill to catch the drippings. I'm sure he had a tummyache after that. A cool-looking fox that I've meant to research more has been hanging around the other side of the fence. He's mostly gray with an orange neck and a black stripe running down his back and long tail. He's not scary, at least to me, except for when his eyes glow out of the darkness when we shine a flashlight at him.
Finally, we have hummingbirds zipping around the park. I've never seen so many! We put up a hummingbird feeder so we could see them better. It took a while for them to find it, but now that they know its here, they fight for it. Hummingbirds are VERY territorial. I love the fact that I now know what they sound like when they hum by. Sometimes they're too fast to see, but I know they're there when I go for my walk. And best of all, sometimes, they'll land on a branch and sit still - not for long, but long enough to get a good look at them, before another one comes along and they're off again. Soon they'll migrate to Mexico and I'll have to find another afternoon distraction.
Can you tell? I'm lovin' on nature today. I hope you'll take time to enjoy it, too.
