A Wonderful Trade-off

Lately I’ve been having a lot of problems with my eyes – blurriness, fatigue, headaches brought on by eye strain – things that aren’t good if you make your living either staring at a computer screen or reading books. My eye doctor told me it’s because the drugstore glasses I’ve been using for the past several years don’t correct each eye individually and may not even be the correction printed on the bow. Until my new prescription glasses arrive, she suggested I severely limit my time at the computer and not read in the evenings as is my wont.

Watching old movies in the evenings isn’t a sacrifice but daytime television isn’t my thing at all. It’s winter and there’s not a lot to do outside (not to mention it’s been too wet to do much of anything) so I was rather hard-pressed to come up with something to occupy my time. Thankfully, the woodland critters in our neighborhood solved my problem with an added bonus.

Last Saturday I was sitting in my chair, watching the birds at the feeders. A couple of deer decided that part of our yard needed investigating. I had just put out a new block of suet and really didn’t want them eating it but didn’t want to scare them off, either. I do enjoy watching our woodland friends meander through – it’s rather calming and the more you watch, the more you can tell individuals apart from their markings.

I read Dr. Dolittle as a child and subsequently saw the movie (no, not the ones with Eddie Murphy, the one with Rex Harrison) and always thought that being able to talk to animals would be one of the coolest things in the world. I have the ability to speak to plants which is pretty neat itself but I could use a little help talking two of our cats into getting more exercise!

One doe was standing right in front of the window just a step or two away from where the suet cage hangs. I started sending out a bit of energy to her … trying to incorporate a little love and a message of “stay away from the suet” at the same time. Imagine my surprise when, as I was sending out the energy, the doe pricked up her ears and looked straight at me through the window. My husband even noticed her reaction. Not only that but I got something back – a feeling of curiosity! We did this for nearly five minutes before she gave me a mental shrug of her shoulders and slowly walked away … bypassing the suet!

I was dumbfounded but rather skeptical. So, I tried it again Monday afternoon with another doe that was in approximately the same spot. This time the the feeling I got back was “what the H?” and she darted off immediately. While I wouldn’t consider this “talking to the animals” it certainly is something worth exploring further.

DJs Deer

I probably would never have even seen the first doe (or probably the second one, either) because I would have been staring at the computer screen or had my nose stuck in a book. So I’m thankful (sort of) that my eyes are in bad shape and I had time to do nothing but stare out the window. It reminded me once again that there are wonderful things in our world to see and feel if you take the time to notice them. Even after my glasses arrive I’m going to curtail my computer use and book reading and stare out the window instead. Who knows what will happen next?