View from My Window

The view from my window is ever changing. I don’t mean just the seasonal changes that ice up our little backyard pond, then lace it with daffodils, then overwhelm the banks with grass that needs mowing. The changes I refer to are dynamic events, like a deer bringing her twin spotted fawns to the pond for a cool drink. Or a heron visiting the pond for a few delightful moments.

Or the time a strange horse clopped up our driveway, veered off, and meandered down slope toward the creek. Or the time a herd of pure white goats loomed over the horizon and then, like so many ghosts, quietly melted into the forest.

Sometimes the view is amusing — a neighbor’s wandering mule and our dairy goats chasing each other round and round the house, flashing by my window in an animated carousel.

Sometimes it’s mysterious — one of our ducks disappearing, presumed carried off by a hawk, then reappearing nearly a week later. Do ducks go on vacation, I wondered?

Sometimes the view is alarming — like the time someone’s pig came to root in our garden. Or the herd of cattle that lumbered up our lane and decided to snack in our newly planted orchard

Sometimes it’s tragic — a pit bull and his frenzied pals ravaged our small herd of Nubian dairy goats. Alarming and tragic events both call for prompt action. No matter that else we might be doing, no matter how important the job at hand might be, something else needs our immediate attention.

And that’s the essence of country life; it’s ever changing. You never know quite what to expect. Your plans for the day don’t matter much, because chances are good you’ll end up doing something else anyway.

Learning to accept life’s vagaries as they come, to solve one problem and then move on to the next, is an essential part of life on the farm. And so is taking time to look out the window and enjoy the view.