Things That Amaze Me, Still

Sheep actually eat thistle plants that are so prickly they sting

My dogs are able to run full out and change directions on a dime

Sometimes August is torturously hot, while this year I am wearing a sweater

A little white flower in April turns into a big ripe apple in late summer

My barn cat can scale to the top of the most incredible heights

My cat can make it back down again, as well

Dogs have fun

A duck egg, turned regularly and kept warm turns into a whole, fuzzy animal in 31 days

A huge pile of winter’s sheep manure is one quarter the size in three months

The ground hogs and the ducks seem to enjoy each other’s company

Lightening

Caterpillars do nothing but eat then make a cocoon and turn into a butterfly

Butterflies suck nectar, mate and lay eggs that turn into caterpillars

My Rooster and chickens greet me as I drive up after work

Kestrels can catch songbirds on the wing

The vastness of the universe

Corn plants grow several inches every single day

Lightening bugs

There are spiders in my barn that are as big as a 1/2 dollar, not counting legs

I am very afraid of the big spiders in my barn, but not the little ones in the corners of my house

The need humans have to create music and dance

In one day, a mouse set up winter quarters in my mailbox with shredded newspaper and kernels of corn

My dogs can sense my mood

Seemingly out of nowhere, gnats appear when a plum gets too ripe in my fruit bowl

Hundreds of thousands of songs have been recorded, but each day people create new, unique music

Great Blue Herons live around the ponds here in Wisconsin

The warm feeling I get when I drive past a huge field of blooming sunflower plants

My cockatiel can whistle the Andy Griffith song

People who don’t speak the same language can communicate

People who share the same language often struggle to communicate

Clouds

All the little rodents that actually survive a harsh Wisconsin winter

Strangers help each other in a crisis

Strangers don’t help each other in a crisis

Hummingbirds can maintain their high energy needs on nectar from little flowers

Snow

The way children interpret the world

The way adults lose a child’s ability to interpret the world

Rainbows

The funny fear I experience on cold, dark, late autumn nights

My cats rub against my sheep with affection and hang out with them in the pasture

My overwhelming need to think and reason and understand

Weeds become wildflowers when we plant them intentionally

Wildflowers become weeds when we don’t want them around

The feeling of Love

Some trees, once chopped down die while some trees, once chopped down sprout new growth

The trees we seem to like the most are the ones that die when chopped

Blind faith

A dog’s undying loyalty for even the most inept human

And, it always amazes me that I need to record my feelings in verse, like this one.

copyright1998