...back home from Chapel. What a beautiful summer morning! My front sidewalk was crawling with activity when I went out to get in the car. There were twenty-one brown, slimy slugs, one bright orange lizard, thousands of little tiny ants and a pattern of muddy paw prints. Since mine are indoor cats, I assume the paw prints came from my buddy, Neighbor Cat, checking out my bird situation. I wish he would zero in on the pesky chipmunk that has taken up residence on my back porch and gets continually more destructive and brazen with each passing day!
I learned my lesson many years ago where "cute rodents" are concerned when I began feeding a couple of 'sweet' gray squirrels with strikingly sad eyes and magnificent fluffy tails. Bob said, "You better not do that...you'll be sorry." But...it was so much fun and they were so cute, I just couldn't resist. "Besides," I thought, "he's probably just saying that." (I had visions of Snow White illustrations. You know...she's lost in the woods...surrounded by a menagerie of compassionate forest creatures.) Well, I should have listened because Bob was right and I became very sorry, indeed. My compassionate squirrels managed to send word out to all their relatives that a gullible food supplier now resided in French Woods. In a mere matter of days my few fluffy friends with the sad eyes multiplied many-fold. They came by the dozens every morning, from all directions. Droves of them would scratch on my front door, scraping at the paint and if I ignored them, they would divide the troops into platoons that would target a window or two. There they would run back and forth, pausing occasionally to peek in at me while smearing the panes with mud and scratches. One of them didn't even have a tail! A squirrel without a tail is nothing to look at, believe me. Without their 'plume,' they are really nothing at all. I don't know how or when it happened but they also somehow managed to transform themselves into scruffy looking demons with greedy, beady eyes and, remembering having seen the (then less than ten year old) movie, "The Birds," I actually began to feel afraid of my former squirrel pets. My fear was compounded, of course, when Bob assured me that it was highly likely that they would chew their way inside if I did not feed them. I was being held captive. It was a nightmare! As I recall, Bob may have also said, "I told you so." He wanted to shoot them. I wouldn't hear of it. How would I live with my guilt? I didn't care if they "tasted like chicken." A short time later, however, the little vermin crossed a line...literally -- my clothesline. In search of nesting material, I suppose, they chewed up T-shirts and the kids' pajamas but the last straw for me was the big hole they chewed in my child's (hand made by her great-grandmother) crib quilt!! I was angry! War was declared.
I never was entirely comfortable with the stiff little skinned carcasses in our freezer but I do rightfully demand some credit for my attempts to adapt. I did taste some of the squirrel meat once and although it actually did taste like chicken, it was a little hard for me to get past the fact that I knew it was NOT. Shortly after that I had my next squirrel cooking experience that turned out to be my last. After I thawed it out, I made the mistake of picking the little bugger up by the armpits as you would a child. I had such a strong involuntary emotional response that it has never left me. To this day, I still avoid lifting a whole chicken or turkey that way. It's a wonder that I didn't become a vegetarian after the experience but I didn't. However, neither does it daunt me to sic the cats on uninvited varmints.
...so what's the lesson here? How do I come full circle with a beautiful summer morning and siccing cats on rodents? A grandfather once taught me, Biblically, how to find the placement for animals in the world God has made and although I cannot remember his words, the lesson learned is still with me and has often been a valuable resource to call upon. Maybe someday I'll write about that.
For now, once again, I find myself thankful......for summer days, for memories, for laughter, for lessons learned and those yet to be learned, for the gift of faith that does not waver...no matter what.
