Mother is a Jokester
Yesterday’s April First is a bit of a tradition around here. Even Mother Nature likes to get in on the act. Yes, we got snow and I know some of you got crocuses and have some weird color out in your fields that looks like the paint from a John Deere tractor spilled all over the place. Not here though – Our fields are a pristine white and according to Mother she’s going to keep them that way for another month.
Strawberry Level View to Greenhouse
This is not the first time Mother has played this joke on us. Nor, I suspect is it the last time. One might, erroneously, think she has a limited repertoire in her comedy routines since she is so fond of this particular joke. One year she gave me snow for my birthday. My birthday is in late July. Not funny.
April Fools
The dogs on the other hand thought this was all very humorous. But then their favorite joke is “Gotcha!” where they grab someone’s tail or leg. They have several variations on this ubiquitous Jaw-Jaw joke. I liken them to human Knock-Knock jokes.
Interestingly, not all species tell jokes. I have never seen a pig, a duck, a goose, a chicken or a sheep tell a joke. Ferrets tell jokes. Cats tell jokes. Is joking a predator thing? I think I’ve seen horses tell jokes. Dolphins do too. So do parrots. I wonder about elephants…
Outdoors: 29°F/9°F Sunny, 3″ Snow
Tiny Cottage: 65°F/62°F
Daily Spark: “Blood is too expensive to use as fertilizer.” -Koyla Cherenkov in Starfarers by Vonda N. McIntyre
Walter Jeffries Tinker, Tailor… A bit eclectic & a tad eccentric, polymath, quantum mechanic & Farmer. Also lucky at cards.
I took a picture of our Great Pyrenees laying in the field this morning, the girl on the path I had just mowed you could see, her brother (well over a hundred pounds) ten feet away from her you could not, the grass and rye and oats hid all but the faintest bits of white fur poking through.
Walt I find it soooooooo fascinating how you see the world how you communicate with animals how you listen to them. Maybe that is the big thin is that you listen to all the animals. I had never thought of animals telling jokes but now that you describe it I realize you are right my cats tell jokes or play jokes maybe is a better saying on each other. Thank you for making me see things another way!
My favorite “joke” was watching a squirrel sitting on the window sill eating a peanut while the cat on the other side of the glass twitched uncontrollably with predator frustration.
Thanks for the visual image – Made me laugh !!!
I guess you have watched a cat get ready to pounce,
shifting their weight from one rear foot to the other
like they are testing the ground to be sure that the
push of their rear feet will not make the ground slip
and spoil the “attack lunge”.