Cat/wasp misunderstanding

Elvis the cat gets a rude Awakening as he swats at a golden wasp! I tell him to stop it. Sixty seconds later, he jumps, runs and bites vigorously at his front paw. Almost immediately it shows inflammation, but Elvis is stoic.

When he comes to bed and kneads my belly, it looks normal. But momma knows he is only applying pressure to the uninjured paw. My poor fur baby!

He is a tough cookie; I am cookie dough.

I learn from a Pollinator Group, that golden paper wasps hunt caterpillars. I notice them in one corner of the yard and on the fig tree. They love my neighbors squash and watermelon flowers.

I also see solitary mud dauber wasps visiting the fig tree. They are hunting spiders. The wasps are helping to keep pests off of the plants.

And from now on, I imagine, the wasps will keep Elvis the cat from pestering them too! These wasps are serious about controlling pests AND pesterers! Be nice around the wasp and they will be nice to you.

Here’s a photo from the next day- still a little puffy.

Cat grass, bee water

Growing a lawn has turned out to be rewarding in many unexpected ways. I would venture to call it therapeutic. Since we are at home more than usual, having a beautiful and inviting outdoor space is a welcome outlet. I can walk barefoot on the earth. Inside or outside, my gaze and my soul is filled with vibrant green.

And of course we share our lawn love with the fur babies, who up to now have been indoor cats. We upgraded them to indoor cats with a benefits package. We’ve slowly built trust and healthy boundaries so that they have the freedom to enjoy the yard. And we enjoy them enjoying it! Let’s face it, no one stalks, preys and pounces like a cat in the tall grass.

And then there’s the nature: dragonflies zooming by; solitary wasps hunt caterpillars and spiders; little white moths flit above the grass.

My favorite visitor right now is the constant stream of honey bees. They drink from my water dish by the dozens! All day. Every day. It is gratifying to help them hydrate in a year that’s been over one hundred degrees daily for several months now. Our irrigation has to fill the shallow dish twice a day to keep it full! Either that’s a lot of bee water or we’re fighting evaporation.

Dragonfly in the sky

What a magical day. We go to help a friend with the power in her house. As we are leaving I remember to add avocado to our grocery list. Our friend gives us two ripe avocados! So we invite her for dinner.

We realize at dinner time that we don’t have any tortillas. Jason opens the door to go get some at the store and our neighbor is there with tortillas! I had texted her asking.

She comes inside with her daughter to pop corn in our microwave; it is movie night next door. We visit while the popcorn pops. The neighbor’s daughter points in the backyard and announces, “Cats!”

Our friend arrives for dinner. We are all chatting when the sprinklers turn on! The cats go running! I open the door and they run past all of us to hide under the bed.

We have dinner: tacos with smoked ground beef and chuck. The mockingbird hunts in the yard while we eat. After dinner, I let the cats outside again.

All of a sudden Biggie Smalls goes running and jumping across the yard and in the air! Is it a bird? We ask, but soon realize it is a dragonfly! It continues zooming in circles over the lawn. Elvis takes a run at it and it zips over the wall to another yard.

We say goodnight to our guest and I go to sit on the porch and enjoy dusk. The cats are settled in a spot and the dragonfly returns. It spins around the yard again and again as we quietly watch.

Biggie Smalls
Echinachea cat camouflage

Towhee Energy

This morning on the porch, the same Aberts towhee, looking plump and healthy, came chirping on the fence once again.

Well hello. I guess you’re my new friend. Might as well embrace the new lead character of our backyard, as we move up the food chain from the precious mantis to the predator who transmuted it into her bird energy.

Towhee IS the mantis! It’s a small change with a huge impact.

She chirped to the ground for a drink from the saucer, chirping as she went. The cats just watched from across the yard. She chirp-hopped back up on the fence and was gone the same way she came.

There were two woodpeckers on the palm tree, two mockingbirds scuffling in the ocotillo, two quail digging in the dirt.

Tertiary mantis theory: it went to the lemon tree for some lacewings and in doing so, perhaps, our original hero made it yonder down the food chain and not hither into the mouth of a bird.

Or both!?

Animal Kin

“Known by the earth, you are. Loved by the earth, you are… There is a confluence of energy that wraps around you that says, ‘I know you. You belong here. It is appropriate that you step upon the planet.'” -Lee Carroll and Kryon Magnetic Service

I have a friend who is both hunter and vegetarian. In the woods, she can kill a deer and eat it; in society, she carefully avoids meat. I crossed the country from a Maryland metropolis to California coast before I experienced the real difference fresh, local, loved food makes- and how great it tastes! I had to dig in the dirt myself to feel what it was. In today’s world we can hardly find restaurants, markets or grocers with ripe, organic, wholesome fruits & vegetables or pastured chicken eggs, grass-fed and finished meats or dairy. It’s important to note that the things we eat, whether plant or animal, deserve basic love and respect in their short life because they have sacrificed for our own greater purpose.

In my homesteading adventures, I have now met chickens, goats, turkey, pig, cow and sheep. I can’t say I sought them out, but once a person starts gardening, sooner or later the farm is going to get your goat! As a meat eater, I have a natural curiosity about my carnivorous ways. So I find myself on the land, prepared to understand the process by hand.

I helped to butcher and process two wild whitetail deer. Respect and honor was given for their sacrifice and we were gracious as we shared deer burgers for lunch in the midst of carving.

I watched a wild boar shot, bled out and butchered by a young man with natural skill. He had acquired and honed these abilities all his life: in the woods with his father. I could see that experience as he swiftly skinned and decapitated the boar. I could feel it as he cut out the animal’s heart, inspected the health of the liver and claimed the animals back straps.

I collected snails while weeding in the garden. Then I used them to bait my hook and caught catfish out of the pond. We filleted three huge fish and put them in the freezer for winter.

For a month, I fed two mother goats and their three kids. We drank the milk they gave, made farmer’s cheese from it and when it was time transported the boy kid to slaughter.

I shepherded sheep to the shearer, skirted their fleeces and sent each ewe packing back to pasture. Two years later, I have learned to wash, spin and crochet this rough material into warm hats and scarves (thank you spinners at Arcata Farmer’s Market).

I harvested chicken and duck eggs and cared for a couple turkeys, but never have I twisted the neck of a foul. Some of these things sound brutal, but the message that I am trying to convey is that death is a necessary and very important part of the cycle. The process of taking a life demands care and respect. Through that action, honor is given and we are sustained. I am proud to know, especially firsthand, the experience and sacrifice of my feast …for us all to come full circle together.

As I seek, so I have found greener pastures, and in them Daisy Mae, a milk cow who lives in Bayside. I mean milk in the most real sense of the word – none of this almond, hemp, coconut, soy, rice …water. I admit that squeezing her juice right from the teat into my jar was …jarring. However, with experience and education, I am learning the beauty and honesty of her raw milk. I am making yogurt, and, you might say: I have found the WHEY.

There is a wordless grace to our relationship with domesticated animals; every time the cow nudges you it’s a reminder that this is a cooperative experience of connecting to source and together gathering sustenance. The practice of milking is very palpable; be careful not to get shit in the bucket. There is a necessary dedication to technique but also care- a syphoning meditation. After three days, we were starting to get along. Daisy Mae’s natural gift is nestled right there: in this stunning relationship that has existed and evolved over too many, many years to count. From it we can place cream, butter and cheese on our table. Thank you, dear.

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And now, here- in Kryon’s words, through Lee Carroll:

“I speak of the precious animals all the time and how they’re here to service humanity and how they do it so completely. I’ve spoken about how some of them are here to be eaten. Many don’t like to hear this, but understand that collectively the animals understand this. They have to be part of the Human food chain, since humanity doesn’t have the ability to grow things fast enough and distribute that food. So that’s a service, you see? For those of you who are vegan, you might say, “I never eat them!” That is a choice for your health. It’s appropriate and accurate, but doesn’t hold true for the survival of the Human race, for animals are needed for Human nourishment and survival at the moment.

So let’s divert for a moment and give you some valuable information about Human consumption of animal life. Many Humans need to eat them, but never understanding that the animal knew this when it came in. Is this too spooky for you? This is known by those who know of animal spirits and can see the sacrifice and appropriateness of this. It was also very well known by the ancients. But here is the question, dear Human: How do you treat them? With that kind of purpose on the planet, how do you treat them before they become your food? How did the ancients treat them? Now that’s a hard question, isn’t it? Let me give you an attribute of truth. Did you know the better they’re treated, the more nutritious they’ll be within your body? “Kryon, please don’t talk about that. We don’t want to think about it.” Dear one, if not me, then who? Listen, if these animals are willing to come and be so grand a part of the life-force of this planet and help it to vibrate higher by keeping you alive so you can make choices, don’t they deserve respect and comfort while they are growing up? The end result will be a far better contribution to your health. Let the scientists lead the way and do some comparison studies to show that the nutritional values increase dramatically when an animal is honored during its short lifetime. The ancients knew this and honored each animal before it became part of their life-force.”

-KRYON, channeled through Lee Carroll
(Click here for Full Text)

AWE-STUCK


Life and Death intertwined Here, in a Knot that Binds Glorious and Grotesque.

A fawn fatally entangled, limps back to the wilderness from whence it came, transformed, trailing ichor & transcending onto the sacrificial altar. It will swiftly be churned asunder and by dawn we find new life. The sacred sacrifice offers nourishment that benefits the whole, impelling rebirth! And the cycle goes on…


\”YOU’RE A GOOD KILLER\”
In order to live, you’ve got to be a demolisher.
You take plants & animals that were once alive & rip them apart with your teeth then disintegrate them in your digestive system.
Your body is literally on fire inside,
burning up the oxygen you such into your lungs.
You didn’t actually cut down the trees used to make your house & furniture
but you colluded in their demise.
Then there’s the psychological liquidation you’ve done:
killing off old beliefs you’ve outgrown, for instance.
I’m not trying to make you feel guilty,
just pointing out that you have a lot of experience with
positive expressions of destruction.
Can you think of other forms this magic takes?
As an aspiring mast of Pronoia, it’s one of your specialties –
a talent you have a duty to wield with energetic grace.
-Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia, Rob Brezsny 104


I prune strawberries.
I make a safe space to nurture life within the garden sphere.
Beneath it all, I find earth.

I turn from the bed to find total destruction!
Lying on the path: squashed snails and dying blooms,
A serving of slaughter (= (if not >)) growth preserved.
I, murderer.

I, life giver.
I create and destroy.
This is a necessary rhythm:
the world seeking balance.