I have been dealing with a woodpecker who has proved a worthy adversary. From the start he seemed to know I was not going to be capable of causing him any harm. Barb and I left for four days in Minnesota, and I wondered how much mischief he might get into while we were gone.
We got back from the airport late last night, and I was working on three hours sleep when I got up this morning to open the glass doors and start a fire. Knowing there had been no fire for several days, I reached in with my bare hands to move a dark clump. My hands felt feather and small bones inside a cold, dead bird. Somehow he had gone around a spark protector and down our chimney where he died sometime in the four days we were in Minnesota.
In an odd way, I had a kind of relationship with this bird. I have a cultural boundary that keeps my mind from going very far down this road, but--some day I am going to sit down with my best friend from the Pueblo and ask him how he sees the story behind what happened early this morning. It will be a memorable conversation,
We got back from the airport late last night, and I was working on three hours sleep when I got up this morning to open the glass doors and start a fire. Knowing there had been no fire for several days, I reached in with my bare hands to move a dark clump. My hands felt feather and small bones inside a cold, dead bird. Somehow he had gone around a spark protector and down our chimney where he died sometime in the four days we were in Minnesota.
In an odd way, I had a kind of relationship with this bird. I have a cultural boundary that keeps my mind from going very far down this road, but--some day I am going to sit down with my best friend from the Pueblo and ask him how he sees the story behind what happened early this morning. It will be a memorable conversation,
