The View From My Window

Outside the wide window behind my computer monitor I watched a small fat woodpecker hop-step sideways on the rocky soil along the base of the faux-adobe adjoining wall, its rounded head and long sharp beak jerking back and forth, eyes blinking rapidly as it searched for insects huddled precariously within the furrows of rough-painted stucco. I could have told it that there were a lot more bugs in the bark of a tree located about ten feet to the south but I refrained from doing so as to not inordinately provoke Eva, the pugnacious prancing puppy who watches over me so carefully, and always frowns upon my talking to animals other than herself.

A sudden furtive movement in the dark entrance of a two-inch-wide hole in the rough black bark at the bottom of the bole of the aforementioned tree caught my attention and I immediately recalled the rattlesnake we had found a couple weeks ago as it lurked in silence on the front lawn, not more than fifty feet from this same tree. I am sure I was once told that careless woodpeckers are a staple in the diet of Arizona rattlers.

My fears were unfounded, though, as the head that slowly emerged from the hole was not a serpent's head but instead was that of a large desert rat. It seemingly took no notice of the hopping bird and nosed about the bases of some of the medium-sized rocks, sniffing I supposed for the concealed presence of a scorpion, tarantula, or some similar sources of rat sustenance. Desert rats, unlike snakes, probably do not prey upon live, fat, sharp-beaked woodpeckers.

Woodpeckers. Ha!

I remember when I was one of four little brats listening to their father sing one of his favorite funny songs:

"A woodpecker pecked on the schoolhouse door,
He pecked and he pecked till is pecker got sore ."

Then Dad would throw back his head and just laugh and laugh. And we, the quartet of raggedy little know-nothings, would always laugh hilariously along with him.

It's funny, isn't it, the meaningless little scraps of song one remembers from childhood?

. . .

Posting this photo because I like it . . . that's all

(Click the pic for a larger view)

Some people hear voices.
Some see invisible people.
Others have no imagination whatsoever.
--Unknown