Animals

A Snowy Day...Pondering The Sixth Sense

There is nothing like fresh fallen snow to liven up the dull, gray winter landscape!

Two inches fell yesterday.

It greeted us early in the morning as we were heading to the barn...

And while it was falling, many stayed indoors...

Weather doesn't ever seem to bother the horses, however.

Although they have plenty of stall space available, the prefer to be out in whatever the

precipitation-du-jour happens to be.

Donkeys? Not so much.

A few of the chickens are always courageous and venture out...

while others find shelter where they can.

By afternoon, the snow stopped and the sun came out.

Sunshine is always a welcomed invitation...

responded to with an enthusiastic "YES....we will attend!"

The dogs are now used to their winter coats enough that they no longer hinder rough-housing.

Perhaps my favorite side effect of the winter coats is the decreased tendency towards roaming.

As long as the coats are on... the dogs are by my side.

Living in the country amongst the animals has taught me so much.

We, as humans, often feel superior to the animals we see.

We feel that the ability to express ourselves through language and the arts,

along with our vast base of knowledge somehow separates us

from the rest of the animal kingdom.

And while it is true that we do possess those special abilities,

there is a type of intelligence that is unique to animals.

Perhaps because of their innate ability to live in the moment,

they possess the ability to sense things that we do not.

Here is an example:

For weeks, our guineas have slept each night perched in the tree branches of the

sycamore tree outside the henhouse.

Monday night, however, when closing up henhouses,

I found the guineas perched inside one of the houses.

(Hmmmm, highly unusual.)

Later that night....snow arrived.

Think of all the stories of natural disasters that you have heard...

more often than not,

the animals had sense enough to leave the area before the mayhem occurs.

They sense the subtle changes in the earth to which we are blind.

One only has to spend a little time really observing animals to also see that they

possess many of the same emotions that we do.

They are capable of joy, of love, of grief.

And while they do not compose great masterpieces, or solve complex equations...

they have a sense about the world that we do not have.

There is not a day goes by that I am not in awe of this amazing world of animals...

of which we are a part.

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Animals