long time

I am in Omaha. Today I will drive back to the ranch. I have been out in California for the last two weeks, for K & B's wedding. I miss Max and Gus and am worrisome about my basilico and tomatoes. Also there were a few new arrivals just before I left:


Their mama kept putting them in inconvenient places, so I had to keep moving them around. She seemed pretty settled in the bunkhouse until the day before I left, when she moved them to some new mystery location. When I last saw them, they didn't even have their eyes open yet. I am anxious to find where mama has them now. It would be nice if I could get them comfy with humans while they are still just small.

Also Gus and Max found this little guy the night before I left:


If I hadn't been leaving, I probably would have tried to save him. Instead I had to just take him out back in the trees, likely to be eaten.

The intersection of 'nature' and 'civilization' is sometimes so tragic. I am learning the hard way not to meddle too much with the natural course of things...you know, like the Food Chain and the Survival Of The Fittest. I am gradually giving way to certain aspects of the wild - spiders in my bathtub (ok, fine), snakes on my front step, mice in the kitchen cupboards (alright, that's where i draw the line) - but it requires a certain detachment from the fate of the creatures in my neighborhood. It is a different sort of detachment than I experienced living in an apartment building in the city and not even knowing my neighbor's names. It is a respectful distancing, recognizing where an injured, abandoned baby rabbit fits into the scheme of this community - and respecting his role as someone's breakfast enough to keep from meddling.