Mother Nature's Child

August 1, 2025

I have always listened to the land. I watch and listen to what the insects and the animals and the rocks have to tell me. I hear the wind, I watch the clouds...the sun likes to talk to me. Who knows what makes me tick. My grandfather would say that's the Mohawk Indian in me...legend has it we are of that tribe. It's never been proven, but I tell you what, my grandfather, my dad and his siblings all look like they were certainly Native American. The weird pull I feel towards nature makes me think we are indeed of that ilk.

I have been working the land for several people over the last few years and I think nature is trying to tell me something. It's telling me to do something else for a living. Yesterday, for the fourth time in a less than an year, I have been attacked by hornets. The odds of running into four nests in such a short time is nothing short of spectacular. My body is beaten down, it's swollen and the only solace is my beloved beer and vodka to ease the pain. If only my hot tub was working...oh God, why did you choose this moment in time to break my hot tub!? I should have been listening to the red tail hawks screeching over the yard. They knew what was up.

Thing of it is, it's not just the hornets and the hawks that have been speaking to me. There's the robins that keep attacking me for getting too close to their nest. It's the numerous snakes that have slithered through my legs on multiple occasions over the last two seasons. What about the feral cat that appeared at my back door last year that now lives in our house? And the cicadas are waking up from their 17-year slumber to add a sound track to a sweltering summer. Yes, I hear you Mother Earth, it's time for me to stop working the land. It's time for me to do what I hate most and slither my way back into a dreaded cubicle. Oh dear lord, help me find my calling.

I'm looking at you, Mr. Red Tailed Hawk. Tell me my next move. I don't want to listen to that jerk of a snake...or that shady looking rabbit that seemed really off the other day. And If I get attacked by one more fucking hornet, I quit!

Arnold Schwarzenegger on the left, Danny DeVito on the right. Fucking Hornets!