A Sound of Nature

I awoke one Saturday last September early, around 6:00a.m. to a sound of clashing, a never before heard sound by me and yet I knew exactly what it was. DEER ANTLERS!
For the first time in all the l8 years I’ve lived in this spot, I was being visited by a buck.
And now, apparently a 2nd buck also.
How lucky could a woman be??
I leaped out of bed, even though it was still dark, I went to the perfectly square screened attic opening where the glass closes like a door. They were directly underneath. Even though I couldn’t see them I heard 2 sets of lungs and 4 nostrils breathing, not panting, but breathing expansively.
What could they be fighting about? In Native American lore, Deer means gentleness.
True, this didn’t seem a vicious fight, but the most natural phenomena, But, outside my bedroom window! And then, its over. Quiet, nothing, ending as quickly as it began. As the morning began to lighten, I went to the backyard. One buck had been sleeping on the west side of the yard, where the grass made a lush, thick bed in the shade. I began walking in that direction and sure enough, there he was, in all his glory. Had he won his throne back? I greeted him and turned toward the eastern side of the yard where my vegetable garden lives.
“Oh, there’s the other one, the scruffier one. Did he lose? Or did he win? He’s closer to the vegetable garden.
Even though we’re enamored and get excited having wild creatures in our yards, can we live together? Do we also plant for them?. Many humans along the foothills will testify, having dealt with them for years eating their gardens and landscaping. Yes, its annoying, they like to prune our gardens somewhat differently than we would, but its more than that.
There’s a sadness that wildlife are looking to us for their food. They have less predators than before, mountain lions, cougars, wolves. Man has definitely created an imbalance. They are as confused as we are, with all that is happening with our earth. Just attempting to survive is changing for all of us.
And yet, I’m sure they can also teach us in many ways about the dimensions they live in. Is man capable of listening?

By Patricia