The End of a Peanut

Our friend Sandy was a peanut-colored, peanut-shaped rabbit. Hailing from Palomino (huge) and Dutch Dwarf (tiny) ancestry, he was a friendly, mild-mannered fellow. If his buddy Ziggy's ears needed grooming, he was the man for the job. When our ankles needed a licking, or our electric cords needed a chewing, he was glad to oblige. When the new kitten wrestled us too aggressively, Sandy would ram her like a furry torpedo. We loved being "saved" by him!

More than anything, he loved to be outdoors. One fine day last week it was 68 degrees. He hopped and wiggled joyously, napped in the shade, grazed in the sun. Nothing could entice him indoors, even after Ziggy retired inside.

As night fell, he evaded our attempts to herd him in. Later, our flashlights caught a fox finishing his cotton-tailed dinner.

Grief-stricken, we had to make a quick decision: chase away the fox so we could bury Sandy's remains near the graves of our other pets, or allow the fox to finish a meal that really mattered after the long, harsh winter.

The stick-thin fox waited nearby, reading our faces.

We chose to say our fond goodbyes to Sandy's hovering spirit, and walk back to the house.

At the end of his most fun day ever, Sandy returned to Rabbitdom in the natural way... by nourishing a neighbor who desperately needed the meal. His rabbit destiny was well fulfilled.

But I'll miss the single-file rabbit parade that hopped daily throughout the house.

Playing and Eating with the Deer Family

Our deer family keeps surviving injuries and the long, cold winter! They are glad to eat from my hand and allow me to pet them. We are all in love. Even the buck, who comes up the porch steps and tries to come in the kitchen, lets me pet him! When I feed him and pet his face, he licks my hands. It's really heartwarming. We both approach one another gingerly, because those antlers loom huge and sharp as he dips his head into the food bowl I hold. My friends all tell me I'm nuts to hand-feed so large a buck. I understand their viewpoint, but we are building an important trust. That means a lot to me.

These deer have all known Maya since she was a teensy kitten. They seem to love watching her antics. By the way, that big buck is the same one who had the run-in with Maya the Kitten in the July 2007 post.

Recently Maya was chasing me around the yard as I dragged a stick through the dry grass. The two adolescent fawns watched in fascination. One little guy in particular couldn't stop watching us, radar ears listening. He walked closer and closer, finally stopping about one foot from where we stood catching our breath. He leaner over and sniffed the stick I was dragging. To my amazement, he leaned down, rump in the air, and wiggled in the universal position for "Let's Play!" I imitated his motion, to indicate that I understood. Then I dragged the stick past him, but he was a little too nervous to actually chase it. Instead he leaped excitedly and ran over to butt his brother with his tiny antler-stubs. They head-butted and wrestled while Maya and I ran around some more. Being of such different species, playing with our friends at the same time in the same yard is probably as close as we'll get to actually romping together.

Blue and White, Brown and Green

Blue sky filled with cottonball clouds meets snowy mountaintops. Wind blows streamers of snow off the mountain peaks, streamers sparkling white against the blue sunny universe above.

Crunchy yellow stalks of last year's plants sit broken on the dusty brown ground. Tiny beneath their bent blades, new grasses poke green shoots up to test the breeze. Fawns with fuzzy antler stubs rustle to find growth beneath the crisp dead leaves.

I am dusty, brittle and white against the warming blue sky, as winter begins to end. I invite the breeze to blow away the vestiges of snow that bury my joy. Blow winter off of me in sparkling streamers!

I poke my green hope up too early, to test for signs of spring.

I need a vacation!

Back from Hiatus

I have been away from blogging so long that I had to remind myself how to navigate this blog. Funny! Writing feeds me; being too busy to write is not what I intend for myself. Who can I blame for this?? Oh yeah, that taskmaster-lady in the mirror.

Work calls. Because I love it, I jump when it asks me to. My classes are becoming more requested, around the state. I am teaching on 4 topics relating to consciousness expansion and wellness. In spring, I'll take at least one class to Boulder. (wait... isn't that like taking coals to Newcastle??) My clientele has filled my schedule with individual sessions well into February.

A part of me feels gratified with the positive feedback. A big fat part, actually! If I'm going to pour my heart and soul and my days and evenings into something, I'd like to know it's helping. I acknowledge that my skills were half-baked for many years. My increasing number of gray hairs is one more mark of experience... it took this many years and this much focus to get to where my work is effective enough for me to be proud of it.

A different part of me is only mildly interested in the work I do with humans. Of greater interest is my deer family that lives in the yard and eats apples from my hands during the cold of the winter. The rabbits that trust me enough to lounge and stretch under my feet as I type this interest me more. The silent downy snowflakes piling up on the branches outside my window interest me much more. If it weren't for the weeks of ice built up, I'd be walking among those snowflakes this very moment.

This rambling story is my unplanned declaration to get myself back in the writing seat more often. My kitten Maya still accompanies my trips to the keyboard, only now she's become gigantic. She's not quite as helpful as she thinks she is, but the movements on the monitor screen still fascinate her. Don't give up on us! Maya and I will be back when we can.

Solar/Wind-Powered Strawbale Home for Sale in Colorado!

Friends of mine are selling their custom-built strawbale solar-and-wind-powered home on 40 acres in a mountain valley of Colorado. I wish we could buy it and live in that quiet valley, ringed by snowcapped peaks of the Wet Mountains on one side and the Sangre de Christo Mountains on the other! Life could be something altogether different from what it is here and now. Peaceful. Serene. Antelopes and eagles as neighbors. Wilderness hiking just a brief walk from the front door. No electric bills.

The trouble is that Gary and I both make our living in this town.

Their place is amazing. They even build a strawbale barn and garage. There's a greenhouse attached to the home, so that it helps to heat it (for free!) in the winter. There's a workout room, so they can stay fit enough for their hiking adventures.

I know they're sad to be selling their dream home, but its a medical necessity. Michael needs to move down to sea level, for his health. This home is at 7,800 feet elevation.

Do you know anyone who might be interested in an absolute dream home in paradise? Check out this website that I made for them, and please pass it along to anyone on your email list who might want to purchase it. Whoever buys it will be the luckiest, most grateful person you know!

http://www.strawbale4sale.blogspot.com

Guard Kitten Saves The Day

We awoke to the sight of a mule deer buck with a massive rack eating the lilac bush outside our bedroom window.

Maya the kitten got her first glimpse of a deer when Gary lifted her to the windowsill. She was fascinated. We then put her outside the back door. She trotted up to the deer, and stopped on a flagstone a couple of feet away.

When Bucky had his fill, he turned to go up the walkway. Tiny Maya arched her furry little back and stood her ground on the flagstone. The deer backed up. Maya sat down. The deer stepped forward, and she arched fiercely once again. He eyed her calmly, steadily.

I called and called, but nothing would persuade our Guard Kitten to leave her post. Eventually the deer glanced at me, invisibly shrugged his shoulders, and walked around another way. Maya immediately collapsed into a little limp heap on her flagstone.

She seemed relieved but proud when I ran over to pick her up. At great peril to herself, she had singlehandedly saved our home and lives from the ravages of a deadly killer deer! I did my purr-imitation into her fur, to show her I was proud of her bravery too.

Bucky made his way to the back of the garden and hopped over the 8' fencing with ease. I photographed his antlers backlit by the early morning sun, as he got ready to hop the fence.

A Welcome Addition to the Family

We'd been thinking that the time was coming to get a kitten. Our cat and dog both died in December. The bunnies are fun, but the don't bond and play with us the way cats and dogs do.

When I got back from Sedona, we decided to start looking for the right kitten. One night I dreamed all night long of playing with a calico kitten. I'd wake up and return into the same dream. The next morning I visited the Humane Society. There was one calico kitten, a long-haired little calico girl. She was sweet and sleepy and friendly, so we took her home. Somehow, Gary and I both thought of the name Maya, after playing with her for a few hours. Maya she is! As I type this, she is snoozing on my desk, paws on the keyboard.

She's been part of our family for over two weeks now. She's learned how to play without using her claws. It took awhile, but she's finally learned that bad things happen to her when she pounces on our fluttering eyelids in the middle of the night! And she's discovered that her bunny brothers run away when she tries to wrestle with them.

Our family rhythm is developing. Maya sleeps all night without waking us, at last. When she awakes, she spends half an hour being petted, purring loudly and tumbling in happy somersaults between Gary and me. This seems to be her bonding time. We eat breakfast on the back patio. Bunnies and kitten come out and lie together on the cement at our feet. Then they chase each other around the garden paths for awhile. When it gets hot they all traipse in the house, and we close the door to keep the heat out. In the evenings, we gather in the living room - humans on the sofa, four-leggeds on the rug. Maya goes wild for an hour, attacking everything in sight and leaping into the air for fun. If I take a bath, she hops onto the edge of the tub, then steps gingerly onto my chest. She stands there with dry feet and drinks from the bathwater, then hops back out. What an adventurous lass she is! Then we all go to bed. Maya starts her night's sleep by draping herself like a noodle-scarf across my throat or Gary's, purring.

It's hard to resist the baby-love she exudes. Her sweetness is healing our grief and bringing a new style of fun into our home.