June 5, 2024
Natural Intelligence
Last night, I went to bed later than usual after spending a long evening outside with my wife. This morning, I woke up feeling tired and dehydrated. Yesterday, my wife had the day off, and it was nice to spend a little weekend time with her in the middle of the week. We had our customary coffee together, laughing about the silly conversations we had the night before. After feeding the dogs, my wife got ready for work, and all too soon, I was waving goodbye to her as she drove off the property.
After she left, I sat down to do a writing session. While writing, I noted how groggy I felt. My watched buzzed with an alert about my sleep patterns. It told me that my sleep had decreased over the past week to an average of five and a half hours per night. That was a little shocking because while I used to do this all the time, for the past year I worked on sleeping seven or eight hours, always noting how much better I felt.
I finished up my writing session, and in a moment of inspiration, I walked to the bedroom, set an alarm for an hour later, and went back to bed, sleeping an extra sixty-five minutes. When I awoke, I felt back to my old self. I took a shower, got dressed, and got busy with work.
During a work break, I took the dogs to the backyard, and when I opened the door, a large raptor was flying through the yard and into the forest. From behind, it looked like an owl, but it could have very well been a hawk. I knew both birds lived in the area, but I had never spotted an owl here and I had only heard their calls. Our new neighbors, who admitted they had five cats, placed black crow decoys in their front yard, either to ward off the hawks or evil spirits. They seemed to deter the spirits effectively because I never saw any around. The hawks, however, remained.
I drove into Wilson to pick up some lunch and then got back to work. The day was uncommonly busy and before I knew it, my wife was just a mile away from home. When she arrived, we made a cup of coffee and sat on the couch together, debriefing our day. After, we went for a walk into the woods.
Every day, the forest grew thicker, with new trees and grass encroaching on the trail. New mushrooms emerged as spiderwebs shifted locations daily. In the woods, we spotted a lone deer watching us. While seeing deer in the forest was not uncommon, it was never anything that felt routine or boring. Each time we met was a continued conversation of us getting to know each other.
I started making a clicking noise with my tongue, the way a rider communicates with their horse. Over the past few months, they seemed to recognize I was not a threat. They never approached or let me get close to them. But if I kept my distance, they seemed to better tolerate my presence. Every sighting was an opportunity to build our relationship.
As we looped around the trail, we saw fireflies everywhere. My wife loved these little insects, and there was no way around admitting nature’s sheer intelligence in designing them. The deviations in DNA sequencing produced small anomalies that sometimes thrived, over time, converting one thing into something completely different.
Over the vastness of time, these minor changes, that occurred by chance, produced gills that allowed fish to breathe underwater, wings producing flight, and little electrical lights in the tails of tiny insects. It was incredible, and our small human minds and limited intellect somehow reduced the incomprehensible wisdom of nature to something we labeled as magical. Tonight, the magic was powerful.
After a brief stop at the creek’s bank, we moved south on the trail that ran parallel to another path where we spotted the deer earlier. When we arrived at the same area, the lone deer had moved to the opposite side, still feeding and watching us.
The doe undoubtedly knew where we were during our walk through the trails. And her willingness to stay in the area was remarkable. Whether through intelligent decisions or pure instinct, the doe seemed to know when to posture to defend herself, when to run away, and when to remain still. In countless situations, I always saw the deer making smart choices, always erring on the side of caution, but never stuck in a habitual pattern. It was as if they read each situation anew.
A few weeks ago, our dogs found a baby rabbit in the backyard. My wife noticed they had discovered the small animal that sat perfectly still. In fact, the kit was so still that we thought there might be something wrong with it. Our dogs had a strong hunting instinct, and over the years, we had seen them attack armadillos, roadrunners, rabbits, squirrels, and a cat. During our first month on this property, they wiped out five adult rabbits that wandered into the backyard. That this small baby rabbit remained unharmed was miraculous. Had the small rabbit bolted, the dogs would have immediately killed it. However, because it remained still, the small rabbit never activated the dogs’ prey drive.
After we put the dogs away, my wife picked up the rabbit, intending to place it on the other side of the fence, but the rabbit jumped out of her hands and bolted at full speed, crossing through the wired fence. The rabbit had every capability to flee, but somehow it knew, even as a baby, that doing so meant sure death. How could nature not impress? Whether through intellect or instinct, the baby rabbit outsmarted us all.
We continued along our path, stopping occasionally to watch the fireflies. They gathered in pockets within the forest, creating spectacular light shows. On the way home, we cut across to a new trail that led to a patch of tall cedars. When we arrived near a feeding area, a deer barked at us and we stopped to watch a small herd run behind the tree line to an adjacent property. Upon exiting the forest, we encountered a large cottontail that quickly fled into the woods.
We went inside and grabbed some cold water, taking it to the rear deck where we sat down in the shade to cool off. From there, we watched crows in the field and a tiny dragonfly that perched on the deck’s railing. Before the light was gone from the sky, my wife and I were both in bed, ready to get some sleep.