A Backyard Naturalist's Challenge

“. . . to observe nature . . . find a spot to sit quietly for a time…”
In my backyard?! Phooey … that’s unlikely!

See this dog here . . .

. . . sitting so pretty . . . so quiet and self-contained.

Don’t let this lovely little snapshot fool you!
In the yard back there — she tears around like the Tasmanian Devil!

You see, we got her this egg — a giant, hard red plastic egg. Every other toy she ravaged to bits, but this one — she can’t sink her teeth into it! And she’s obsessed with the thing! For the past two years — through sun, wind, rain, hail, sleet, and snow — she’s been chasing the darned thing around the yard, tearing at the bushes and wearing the grass down to bald earth just trying to get a grip on the thing. And, . . .

She seems to need ME as her audience --

Which means — when I’m back there — there’s no ‘sitting quietly’!

Not to say I can’t go out there on my own,
… but then she sits … by the door …looking out . . . At Me,
… and pulling that face — that sorrowful,
“everything happens to Eeyore” face. : (

I gotta say, I just don’t have the heart ! I mean, Who does? --

when a face like this . . .

. . . pulls a face like that?! :P
So, … we play! : ) And while we play, I engage all of my senses to become fully aware of what is happening beyond our boisterous bedlam.

Rising to the Challenge

What I said earlier about our dear boxer bulldog — I wasn’t being completely fair to her intelligence . . .

Yes, she is as fixated on “heuvos locos” — Spanish for “crazy egg”, as it has come to be known around here — as I claimed, but what began as an obsession with sinking her teeth into it to tear it apart, has turned into some pretty sophisticated game-play.
Each day, the energy she builds up in anticipation of her beloved is spent chasing the thing around in a mad fury, but this soon settles into one of several possible games — racing to the target after getting ready “on your mark”, keep-away in the form of two-person soccer, or football, in which she traps the ball underneath her so that I’ll tackle her to set it free, and our very favourite, “Skydog”, in which either dog or egg are propelled high into the sky by the sheer force of their connection!

And what I said about being fully aware in the midst of this manic activity — I try to take in the whole picture and give myself regular reminders to be conscious of all that my senses detect:

stretch your hearing beyond the commotion you are directly involved in. Listen for the quietest, furthest sounds.
keep your eyes wide and your focus above the central action. Watch for the slightest movement in your peripheral vision.
breath, and concentrate on what you detect in the air. What do you smell? What do you taste? Do these things tell you anything about the nature of life today?
notice what your skin is telling you — about the sun, the wind, the weather — and touch. As you move about touch your dog, the grass, and the plants that struggle to exist in this hostile environment!

As my story goes, when it comes to quiet observation of nature, our dog is definitely a challenge — but, the situation is far from impossible — and, if you continue to follow my stories you will discover that if it weren’t for this crazy mutt, there would be many discoveries I would probably never have!
Bravo, Perro loco!

book cover Trails & Travel Nature Awareness Activities for Kids

Trails & Travel
Nature Awareness Activities for Kids
is a Kindle eBook designed for parents and teachers who desire to encourage children in their natural curiosity of the wild world. Loaded onto your mobile device, this e-book is designed for use while hiking on the trail and while traveling in the car.