A Smaller Stage 2/19/2023

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

I have written countless times about the joys of rural living and rest assured I have not changed my mind or my warm feelings toward it. While there are probably aspects that even those not fortunate enough to live the country lifestyle would suspect, there are probably tidbits that you might not see coming.  Though we may not have the hustle and bustle of the big city, the sticks, as some are prone to call them in an attempt to be derogatory, do have their own little dose of very unique drama. I know those of you in the more urban areas probably find that difficult to believe that a land of fields and trees and the occasional smattering of people could have much by way of drama. I understand your questions but I urge you to remember that I did say it was a unique sense of drama. It will most assuredly not be what you are expecting but drama it most definitely is.  Hang on to your hats because the theatrics are many.

Let me preface my first tale with some background information.  The squirrels that live near our home are very healthy. Yes, our property does have a fair amount of oak trees so they do have a good supply of acorns but I really don’t think that is what gives them the level of heft that we are talking here. These squirrels look like if you, a human, challenged them to a fight, that they might ponder a bit if they should take you up on it. I know it sounds like I am being a bit over the top but I assure you that I am not. These are large for small creatures.  I suppose it could be something about the fact that they insist on drinking from our saltwater swimming pool. Now, before you scold me that I should not let them, I promise I do tell them not to. I fuss and shoo them and tell them it is not good for them to drink it but, as wildlife is known to do, they don’t listen. I can be out by said pool and catch movement out of the corner of my eye. Something is on the diving board. There he is with is bushy tail and disconcerting direct eye contact.  He looks me dead in the eye as he casually saunters over to the ladder in the deep end. He continues to look at me as I fervently urge him to cease and desist but he insists on going down to water level and sipping.  He doesn’t care if I gesticulate or yell. He just looks at me and drinks. Maybe the pool drinking is what makes them salty in both the figurative and literal sense of the word.

Now that I have set up for you the type of rodent population of my area, I can tell you of the entertainment they give me beyond their bold and confrontational pool drinking. As I have written before, I have a black cat named Jasper. He is a wonderful specimen of felinity in all senses of the word. While he does live inside our home, he does take adventures out on our screened in back porch. He loves watching nature and likely plotting ways to do deviously ferocious things to said nature. Well as you might have guessed, the brazen squirrels enjoy toying with my cat’s emotions. They really have no business coming up near the porch as it leads out to a concrete patio.  There really isn’t much of interest for them, except they get to torture the sizeable feline behind the screen.  And torture they do.  They run to mere inches from the screen while my cat, perches in pounce mode with muscles quivering.  He knows he can’t actually get to them but every fiber of his being wants to try. The squirrels know and he knows. It’s all very dramatic, not particularly satisfying since it’s basically just psychological warfare with no physical conclusion.  But you can see that the squirrels are very purposeful in their tactics.  They run close, taunt, then run away and look back at those golden eyes with their normally vertical pupils dilated to saucers.  His little haunches wiggle for a pounce that will never happen.  It is quite the engagement to behold.

And I haven’t even mentioned to you our bird that has aspirations of celebrity.  We have a few cameras with our security system.  Not that our area is particularly prone to crime, but cameras are just something you do out in isolated areas.  We have a bird that has discovered our cameras and seems to be rather convinced that we are gathering footage for a feature film. This bird loves to fly in front of and all around to be in camera-shot. Now you may be thinking that perhaps it just has a nest nearby and I would think you might be right however, this bird has discovered two of our three cameras and not only do we know it doesn’t have a nest at either but it wouldn’t have 2 that close together anyway. I think it’s a female as her coloring is not particularly bright but she certainly loves to be on camera. We constantly get motion detection alerts and it is probably 90% of the time our feathered actress putting on a fly out, fly around, fly back, get a beak close-up, type of show.  I suppose whether we intended it or not, we are gathering footage.  I don’t know of any plans to make a bird film, but I suppose if that is something I wanted to pursue, I have the required subject material.

Now you have been educated on the sensational goings on of a rural setting. I am sure that other small town and country settings probably have adventures just as unique going on as well.  I’ve seen things here and there that might entertain though you have to be willing to take a look in the least expected places.  You could find some stage in nature’s kingdom with performances that rival Shakespeare. Or you could come across insolent rodents and an unfulfilled cat, but either way, entertaining.