TEMPLE'S ANIMALS, ANOTHER TRANSLATION

Good evening, oh mysterious reader!

I've found another book to read. It's a new publication written by Temple Grandin titled ANIMALS MAKE US HUMAN. Most excellent! I highly recommend it.

Ms. Grandin talks about various animals that have been domesticated over the millineum : dogs, cats, horses, cattle, pigs, animals kept in zoos and animals living in their natural habitat. She relates them to us, giving us insites into their behavior patterns and better ways to live with them, more humane ways to care for them.

It's one of those books that keeps me up at night reading.

I see so many amazing things, living in the area that I do. I'm sure that I see things that most other people simply because we are so far off the beaten track and living on a preserve.

There's a fat little opposum that trundles past my door here in my study every day between noon and one. I wouldn't be surprised to see him pull a little pocket watch out when he pauses to look in my door. He's so precise in his choice of juniper berries hanging on the ancient bush at the end of my garden, carefully pulling the lowest branch down to his level and choosing which berries he will eat for his lunch. I'm pretty sure he carries a tiny linen napkin that he ties around his neck just before he seats himself for his lunch.

Then there are the three white tail deer that walk across the berm of the pond every afternoon. They're so sure of their safety that they don't even run away if my thirteen year old cocker, Joe, is outside when they stop by for a few tasty branches off the willow trees. Joe barks with all the energy he can muster, but the usual response is " Like we're worried? I so don't think so!" and then they continue their stroll around the pond, flipping their pretty white flag tails at Joe like ladies flirting at an afternoon cocktail party.

What a shame more people don't have the opportunities that I do, to stand in a meadow and listen to nothing but the wind in the trees and the grass as it bends. If more people could find this kind of peace, maybe they would be willing to put all the guns down and try cooperating instead.

But maybe that's too much to hope for?! Read the book if you have a chance to. Ms. Grandin's is a fascinating point of view and one worth noting. She sees the world from the same kind of place as the animals she writes about. More people should pay attention to what she has to say. We would be better off for it.

I remain your friend, always...Nancy, smiling