Chickens, squirrels, and what happens when you sit still long enough and listen

This isn’t a real post. Just something I tossed off on Facebook and thought belonged here as well. So it won’t be funny. Or very profound. Only a little profound. No pictures either.

Sat outside with the mama chicken & her three babies for a while today. They all come running up to eat out of my hands now. Best part of the morning was the fact that being still for so long convinced all the wildlife that I was no threat. Before long, a squirrel slowly stole into my shed, ten feet away, to eat bird seed stored there. A tufted titmouse was perched right over my head talking aloud, presumably debating whether it could get away with stealing seed while the squirrel was in there. Then my cat got up and stalked the squirrel and before long it had grabbed a mouthful of seed and run up the tree right at my feet and was clinging lightly, upside down, to the trunk about three feet away, looking right at me. I never knew squirrels could make a purr-like sound (but in short bursts rather than sustained like a cat’s). Such big eyes, too! Did you know what tiny, delicate feet squirrels have? Such translucent little ears. Big, intelligent eyes. The tail is just a distraction from the really interesting things about a squirrel.

I kept thinking, “I have so much to do. I have so much to do.” And then I kept sitting there. And then I thought about that Mary Oliver poem: “What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” and I thought: This IS life. This is what I will do with it.