DOWN THE ROAD
By Milt Gross
I was lying on the sofa this morning, giving a nap my best shot. But, as I gazed out the window at the trees, a question came to mind.
Why aren’t there more crows?
Strange question? Maybe. But why aren’t there more crows?
We probably have about three in the small patch of woods outside our window. I’m not sure how many squirrels, and I’m guessing about a half-dozen blue jays.
But why aren’t there more?
I think the answer must go back to some kind of planning … say God? Imagine our woods with 30 crows, 100 squirrels, and dozens of blue jays.
But that woods possibly can’t handle 30 crows, you say, there’s not that much room.
Exactly my point … or my question.
Why not?
It’s obvious, you say, the woods out that window is about eight acres. Too small.
Exactly my point.
With 30 crows, our woods would be noisy, so noisy, for example, that I might not be able to have a sound sleep during my nap. I can’t imagine dozens of blue jays. The few we have make enough noise for a lot more.
I got to pondering this great out-the-window dilemma. Stick to the crows a minute. It is fairly obvious that 30 crows would be way too much for this little woods. Imagine the noise they’d make.
More important, would there be enough food for them all?
How much food would 30 crows need? I don’t know. Probably more than is out there.
Which brings up another possibility … there could be a GP (Great Planner) making sure there are enough critters to keep me awake from my nap but not so many that they would starve.
Why a GP? Why not? We have everything else around here. A great ocean with enough seagulls to fill up the shoreline. Too many to grab the slice of stale sandwich roll I toss down for them. But enough to keep the shore and shallow bay from having too much of whatever seagulls eat.
Why not more deer in our woods? Same question. What would they eat? Why not more moose? Might trip over each other. Why not more black bears? Might scare me to death.
We have enough critters to properly fill our woods, but not too many. That could be a GA (great accident). New ones try to land here, but there’s not enough room or food or whatever else they might need. So they go somewhere else. Or maybe there is a GP. May the GPlanner knows how many crows will fit nicely into our woods.
Am I saying the GPlanner cares about our patch of woods? Yup, I think I am.
I’ve been in deeper woods where I’ve seen one or two moose at a time. Guess what? Lots of acres and acres of woods up there. Enough room for lots of moose, including the ones that pop out of the woods and scare me.
Is that by accident? Could be.
Is that by plan? Could be.
Have I said enough here?
Could be.
Milt Gross can be reached for corrections, harassment, or other purposes at lesstraveledway@roadrunner.com.
