The Nature of Things

We live in an area that’s pretty rural and filled with all kinds of wildlife. We have seen bald eagles in our driveway, bobcats, and way too many deer. There is a bear that roams around the area looking for ways to fulfill the 20,000 calories it needs before bedding down for the winter. By the way, wouldn’t it be great – just for awhile – to be able to eat everything with total disregard for caloric or nourishment content? Death by Chocolate here I come.

Anyway, we have a nice sized pond in our backyard that hosts various snakes, turtles, frogs (those bullfrogs do sound like large rubber bands being pulled) and the occasional heron. This year we were also fortunate enough to have a male and female Canadian goose with their 2 offspring. Oh, they were so cute and I would always look for the family early in the morning and the evening. My husband and I enjoyed giving each other daily reports on the little ones' progress.

Then one night the retched coyotes were howling up a storm very close to our house (if you have ever heard this noise you know it is one that will send goosebumps up your spine). The next morning the goose family was gone and I have not seen them since. I'm sure the coyotes got the goslings that were unable to fly, I do not know if the parents were also victims. This has really made me sad and I can’t get the picture of the parents watching their babies being mutilated by these sniveling, lowlife predators. All of nature isn’t beautiful.