A Dream -- The Future?

A woman glanced out her back door and saw some mule deer come down the slope onto her back lawn. The pretty creatures moved across the grass into the neighbors lot, then headed back up his slope. The woman turned to tell her husband that the deer were moving through; when she turned back she was startled to see two wolves come down the slope, following the same path that the deer had taken. She watched to see what they would do, but they continued moving and soon disappeared from view. She turned once again to tell her husband what she had seen, then opened the door to step outside and see if she could see more. To her surprise she realized that there was now a mother bear and two baby bears between her yard and the neighbor's yard. She froze, but saw that the mother bear was moving steadily on, paying no attention to her, while the babies gamboled about. She watched silently as the mother moved up the slope, then turning towards the open door going back in, only to discover to her horror that the cubs had come in the house behind her back. Her immediate thought was to get the cubs out as quickly as possible, before the mother came back for them, so she grabbed for one wiggly cub, hoping to not be hurt, and got him out the door. Then turning back for the other cub, found that he had disappeared in the house, and began crying out for her husband to come help, trying to explain quickly and urgently, while starting to look everywhere!

This is from one of those strange waking dreams that impress themselves so strongly on the mind. I am wondering if it is an allegory for the future economic condition of our nation, or state, or family? The wolf is not at the door, the big bear has passed by, but danger has entered the house and has the potential to get worse if it is not managed properly with a bit of good fortune from above added in.

Yellowstone Observations

When I visited Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago the bison were moving from their winter locations into the favored summer pastures. As usual they were using the paved roads for their own runways. I was stopped or slowed down several times by various groups, mostly moving along the Madison River. One time as I was sitting in the car waiting for a medium sized herd to pass there were a couple of stragglers at the end. I noticed that the one at the back started to overtake and pass the other one, then looking back and noticing the other one wasn't keeping up, this bison fell back behind again. I thought it was curious, but thought it might be a dominance thing taking place. These two then passed the car right next to me, just a few inches away, so I thought I should take the chance to observe their appearance as carefully as I could. As the first one went by I noticed that his horns were very blunted, and had a splintery appearance to them. I wondered if it was possible that this was the way all their horns were and I had just never really paid attention before, so I waited eagerly for the second bison to see what his horns looked like. They were pointed and smooth! I then realized that I had seen a wonderful little vignette story about bison behavior in particular and all of the animal kingdom in general. The young strong bull had been watching out for and tending over the aged grandfather bull! It was a very sweet feeling to have witnessed such a lovely scene and to have understood it.

Later I turned at Norris, towards Canyon, and a little ways along saw two female bison shepherding a little new calf down the road, one in front of the calf and one behind him. You could tell he was very young, because he had the expression of just working at doing what he needed to do, not the more aware expression of an older calf. This also was a very sweet and cherished memory for me.

Today I visited the park again. The Madison is flooding now, with all of the heavy snowmelt, and I only saw elk along the river. The bison were in herds to be seen in various places along the Firehole, but all of the side roads are closed to allow the grumpy, hungry bears some peace and quiet while they wake up and fill their tummies. When I asked at Old Faithful when the roads would open the ranger told me Memorial Day for most of them, but the path to Lone Star geyser would open as soon as the bears finished eating the dead bison on the path. Usually it took 3 or 4 days for them to do this, but they were taking a long time this time.

So I have contrasting stories about the life and death of bison in Yellowstone. I saw the beginnings of life, respect for old age, and the endings of life in this existence.