As Should Be

Columbine continue blooming in the secret patch beside the stream each day. I suppose I could try to dig them up and transplant them to a flower box near the house, but that isn't at all appealing to me. They deserve to live where they sprout, and it's a pleasant walk down to the stream to see them and back again each day without molesting them in any other way.

Best to let every living creature live this way, just as kit number three has chosen to live near the house of its own accord. Sleeping beneath the BBQ grill or about the yard feeding, we see each other every time I go outside now and experience no stress from that bit of contact.

Wherever it wants to hang out around the house is okay by me.

Grazing elk and mule deer enjoy coming close to the house now and again. I watch quietly.

They know they're being watched but don't seem too alarmed by it, even a little bit curious.

When bear come too close, I urge them with soft words to please leave my garbage cans alone, and they do so, returning to the wilderness without any kind of argument . . . so far.

Nearest neighbors are good about keeping to themselves, leaving me in peaceful solitude.

As should be.