Bear's Den: "Spring Hasn't 'Sprung"... If You're Wear'n Smarty-pants"
David Walks-As-Bear
March 14, 2009
Sat upon a rail.
Niddle, naddle went his head;
Wiggle, waggle went his tail.
Yet, even while this rhyme is honked by Mother Goose… winter still feels ever-present and terribly cold. Yessir, and part of knowing that it isn´t over… comes from the wisdom of growing old. So, acquired smarts are kind´a good, and although getting old doesn´t make me glad… it absolutely beats the alternative which, smarty-pants me figures… is kind´a bad.
The lake has lost its ice, and "ni-kas", or geese, have been flying in and loading up the water in front of the cabin. It seems like just yesterday they were stopping by on their trip south. But, time does fly, almost as fast as a robin redbreast, and… the passing of a two-legged´s era. This morning, while saying my prayers, I heard the tell-tale sound of a robin´s chirp as it flitted quickly through the woods. Like the geese, robins are migratory – they fly south to spend "Pepoonwi", or winter, and come back every spring. Uh-huh, and although I didn´t see the bird, its arrival here in Michigan is supposed to be a sure sign that spring is here, too. Yeah, well I ain´t holding my breath. That´s because as I pondered the presence of this "wiskilo'tha" (bird), I glanced at the outside thermometer. After dusting off the snow, it was showing a steady 20 degrees, and somehow… I didn´t figure that as too ´springy´, eh. Yet, unlike younger two-leggeds, I´m way too old now to be deceived…that´s what I figure.
Two days ago, the weather was in the high 50´s. Our 16 year-old was as happy as an inebriated jaybird. "Spring is here!" she said exuberantly. "Isn´t it beautiful?" Yep, it was, and she was able to wear a light jacket and flip-flops to school. But, two days later, snow and freezing rain was everywhere, and man, was she ever shocked and deeply saddened. She´d left her heavy coat and boots at school the day before, thinking that they´d be unneeded. Uh-huh, and she was mad at the world for this travesty, too. So, see what I mean? Getting old has its bennies. That´s because while my domestic boss and I may not have been happy with the return of the cold, we sure weren´t surprised. We figure that the Creator made the Mitten State´s spring to always be a series of mixed warm days and cold, until sometime in mid-May or so. And, if you´ve lived through a couple of them, then you know this. But, youth is naïve and a tad on the impetuous side, to boot.
That puts me to mind of another young´un´s disappointment that I recently beheld. After several days of nice weather, the snow had melted and warm sunshine rained down. This was the scene as I watched a young, first-year, black ane-quoi, or squirrel. He was lugging a hefty cob of field corn, swiped from a nearby field. The cob was nearly as big as him, and his antics demonstrated his youthful dilemma. I knew what he was trying to do, but man, it was sure comical to watch his kiddish antics, eh. He was trying to get the cob into the fork of a tree where he could wedge it in and eat the kernels easily. The leafy floor of the woods was littered with several old cobs, so, it had been working like a charm. Unfortunately his plan, like our daughter´s, was based on the belief that the weather would be as it had been.
I watched that young squirrel work diligently, impetuously dragging that corncob up one tree after another only… to have them bend right over and drop them both … right back on the ground. He was in a stand of sapling maple and cottonwood, and when there´d been three feet of snow supporting them, they could hold the combined weight just fine. But, with the snow gone, the willowy saplings just couldn´t do it, and, after awhile, the little "ane-quoi" became appalled and sat down disgustedly. He just chased the kernels from the cob around on the ground. So, see what I´m say´n? Acquired smarts are kind´a good, and while getting old doesn´t make me glad, it absolutely beats the alternative which, smarty-pants me figures… is kind´a bad.
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David Walks-As-Bear is a Kispoko Shawnee Indian. He works as a private game warden and detective and is an author and syndicated newspaper columnist living in Northwest Michigan. Contact him at The White Lake Beacon: 231-894-5356 or visit his website at: www.Walks-As-Bear.com
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