I was pondering something today. With all of the stress that has been suddenly added to my life (ailing family member and aging dog being the most prevalent), I figure I should seek some sort of refuge where I can escape now and again. It does not necessarily have to be some exotic place or even some faraway place. It just needs to be a "me" place where I can close myself off from the worries of the world for a few hours. This would allow me to regroup and face dilemmas with a renewed energy. I need the proverbial "she shed". I really, really need this! A place like that would be ideal as I could literally run and hide. The shed could come equipped with a sign that says something to the manner of "No One Allowed!" It then occurred to me that some critters have built in "she sheds" where they escape from the reality facing them.
Armadillos were the first critter that I thought of when I was thinking "portable she shed". These critters can roll up in a little ball and escape whatever is not to their liking. Of course, my mind wanders a lot so I started thinking how pill bugs are so like armadillos. The ones around here even have reference to that in their big, ole fancy name Armadillidium Vulgare! I have always (like most folks) just called them Rollie Pollies! It is a much easier name to remember and, well, I need easy things to remember at my age.
Rollie Pollies are actually crustaceans that have made the trek to land and decided that it suited them fine. So..there they stayed. They feast upon rotting vegetation and roam about the place unnoticed...at least until something wants to eat them. Then, they roll up in a tiny ball hoping the predator will either lose interest and go away or have trouble eating them. When things start to get a bit rough, I am going to roll up and hide! Sounds good. Real good.
I like living where and how I do. For most folks, this life would probably seem hard compared to the standards of today's society. I do things "the old way". It suits me. I grow most of our food and can it for use during the winter months. We catch fish, shrimp and crabs to go along with the fruits and vegetables. The old cast iron wood stoves supply our heat during the winter and open windows cool the house during the summer. I am happy living on the Bayou. I would not fare well in the city. I get agitated with the hustle and bustle of things and love the quietude of the Bayou and woods. I love hearing the frogs and toads singing their nightly serenades, the owls calling back and forth from the tall pines and the mullet splashing in the calm waters. I love finding baby rabbits under the brush piles, large alligators sunning on the mudflats and even the raccoons raiding the muscadines. I like waking before dawn to watch the sun rise up over the pines and sitting on the pier in the evening to watch it set again. I like the smells of the Bayou..the magnolias, jasmine and wild honeysuckle, the orange blossoms and peach blossoms, the lemongrass as it wafts in the breeze and, yes, even the "low tide" smell that some find offensive. I just belong here.
I sat thinking about this, today, as I watched life in a different big, crowded "city". While working in the gardens, I moved a container that held bell pepper plants. Under the pot, in a space about one square foot, an entire city of critters had made their homes. In fact, even after some scampered to parts unknown, I counted six spiders, fourteen pill bugs, eleven snails, one centipede and about a dozen tiny ants. They were so crowded that the critters were literally crawling all over each other. The spiders were stalking the pill bugs, the ants were biting the snails, the centipede would have made short work of the spiders. Each seemed oblivious to the other's feelings which made me ponder if that is how it is in large human cities. I hope not. I'd like to think that we all can show kindness to everyone but, then again, I live in my own little world down here and do not have to deal with any hullabaloo from others. Yep, I like it...it suits me just fine.
