The Flooded Road

I was walking down a dirt road to a church. In the church there was a service. After the service we went outside of the church and I was talking to the pastor about something. Showing him in some area where his beliefs were misguided, while he was trying to do the same thing to me. My sister was there, I do not remember my interaction with her but I know I did. We were on the side of the church in the grass, there was a large tree near the back, there were a few people milling around. I left the others and was going to make my way back to the church via the road, which had now been flooded

The mud was smooth, firm, and hilly and the water felt very good on my feet. There were people working on the road to even it out. The water was deep in some places and shallow in others. I made it around to the other side of the church where the feast was being prepared. I went inside to the foyer. The men there were talking about how there wasn't enough to eat. Just then I looked outside and saw half a dozen bird-men just standing in the water in the flooded road

The men of the church got it in their mind that they would catch and eat one of these bird-men. The one in front of me had dark feathers, a slightly curved strong beak and dark tattered clothing and was facing away from me. One of the church men walked up behind him and grabbed him with one arm around his neck and the other around his beak. The bird-man did not put up any resistance. When they dragged him into the church foyer they turned him around and were talking about how to cook him. I could see the understanding and sadness in the bird-mans eyes. I told the men they couldn't eat him because he was a sentient being, he was intelligent and therefore should be respected and not eaten. No one wanted to listen to me, I was very distraught. The bird-man did not offer any resistance, just the sad understanding of his fate in his blue eyes, with a single tear.

I left the building very upset. I went out to the road and saw the men working on smoothing it out under the water,  Butterfly-man was one of those men. I started to walk along the road again feeling the mud under my feet and the cool water around my ankles. A few feet up from where I was I saw something yellow under the water, it was my puppy. She was spread eagle on her back under the water. I cried out and ran over to her snatching her from the water. I started immediately to rub her back holding her upside down. I rubbed vigorously and she started to open her eyes. I knew then that I could save her and I was so overcome with emotion, sadness, joy, love, fear. Then I woke up.

Family

Family means many different things to many different people, but for me family is the village in which you live.  Your village is made up of the people from which you where born, the people you have chosen in your life, and the people which have drifted in from elsewhere.  Like all families we are not going to get along with all the people in our village and that is ok because it teaches us a great variety of social skills.  In our village we experience love, acceptance, and understanding while also learning how to cope with loss, betrayal, and abandonment.  Our village continually challenges us to redefine our place within our family as well as forcing us to adapt and explore our own personalities.

In your family you many not always get along with each member and there may be some that you actually despise.  I refuse to see this as a total negative in my life.  I have come to the understanding that all people are different and the only person that I need to please is myself.  Having people in my family for which I do not associate challenges me to not become like the people I don't like.  It has taken me many years to understand that by actively hating a person I am giving that person power over me and the best thing I can do is to be honestly in my heart indifferent to them.  Those people are not worth my energy.  And even though the relationship has been torn I have learned, I have grown, and hopefully I am a better person for the experience.

On the opposite end of our least favorite family members is our favorite.  Those people who are selflessly good to us and by their very actions encourage us to be good people.  These are the family members we cherish and often go out of our way for.  Cultivating and maintaining these relationships are so important to our own healthy psyche.  And by loving these people we can rise above our preconceived notions of self and become what we dream.

We tend to set the level of our self esteem by the relationships we have with members of our village.  We judge ourselves based on the opinion of others, sometimes good and sometimes bad.  Even though our village does help to define us and our place in this world I accept the challenge of setting the level of my self esteem myself.  By finding happiness within me I can walk though my village at peace with all of its members.  When I do not have to worry about pleasing anyone other than myself it makes saying no so much easier.

To paraphrase the Charge "if you cannot find what you are looking for within yourself you will never find it without".  This sums up beautifully the path to happiness I am on.  With this understanding I can look at my village, all of the people whom I love, hate, and am indifferent to, and accept them as I accept myself.  Life is a journey for which we set out our own trails.  We all choose the paths we walk, sometimes without understanding that there was a choice to be made.  But if we walk the path for ourselves rather than for others we will find peace, and by finding peace within ourselves we will have it to share with others.  This makes our whole village stronger.

Life is an adventure and we all have family we share the adventure with.  See your village and accept them but do not loose yourself in the drama.  Love those worthy of it and release those who are not so worthy.  Be yourself.

To my village: Love and Light and Blessed Be!

Nic, Nack, and Paddy

So we are on the second year of Mallard ducklings.  Last year we had a male and a female, Click and Clack.  This year we have three new quackers named Nic, Nack, and Paddy.  We got them as hatchlings on March 17th and kept them in the house on the living-room table in a small animal cage.  Duckling are very affectionate and love to snuggle with you and sit on your shoulder, in fact that is their preferred spot, so a towel then becomes necessary to keep your shoulder clean.

At about two weeks old the flock can start spending days outside, with supervision.  We have hawks, owls, racoons, foxes, and neighborhood dogs who would love to make an easy meal of the currently flightless birds.  So every morning we wake up and walk outside for our daily romp and then they get cooped up in their run while the weather is nice.  On not so nice days they spend a LOT of time in the tub, water entertainment and easy clean up!

At one month old most of their adult feathers have grown in.  They have graduated to adult duck food and weekly minnow hunting.  At first both sexes look female but very soon the males will start shedding their brown feathers and getting their beautiful green heads.  Right now they are still juveniles and very needy.  They are sleeping outside now but insist on companionship.  They often come to the back door peeping, demanding that someone come out to watch them eat!  Although they are pretty hand shy they are not afraid to come and sit on you if you are still.

Mallard ducks are a wonderful summer project for the whole family if you have the time and the space for them.  There is not a lot of expense involved in raising mallards.  I purchased my ducklings at a local farm and garden store for only $5 and 10lbs of feed only cost $6.  Inside I housed them in a small animal cage or kennel and outside they have a truck topper for a coop and a small kiddy pool to swim in.

The real commitment for these critters comes in the form of time.  It is the nature of fowl to imprint on a mother figure and when they imprint on you they will have a need for your presence.  Ducks follow you everywhere and will insist on you being there several times a day just to hang out.

Mallards, unlike flightless ducks, will eventually leave you to migrate south in the fall.  They will do this by instinct and need no prompting from you.  Often your ducks will come back for a visit in the years to come as they have a lasting connection with the place they were raised.  It is wonderful to be a part of this cycle of life, to love and raise these adorable and entertaining creatures and then to see them learn how to fly and eventually leave for bluer waters.