We try to attract birds throughout the year, not just during the spring and summer when food and water opportunities are plentiful and our help is not as important. We have three watering stations that are kept ice free by electric tank heaters that are thrown into the water. Dogs, cats, chipmunks, as well as birds and wildlife take advantage of these water sources.
When we looked out the kitchen window, we could see a tall, dead Hookers’ evening primrose that appeared to be alive. As with most native plants in this area, the primrose’s unaided growth is only a few inches tall, but with more water it grows larger, and this one had received extra water and was about a meter tall, with yellow flowers running around. elongated stems.
Each of the stems that had given us so much viewing pleasure in the summer now provided food for birds inside the pods that climbed up the stems. The plant vibrated with life as the finches pecked at the pods making small movements as they gripped the stems, moving to get a better position. We leave these native plants dry as a source of food for birds during the winter months.
Early darkness, seasonal vacations, and the extra time one gets from not tending to a garden draw people in both frequency and number. We were grateful when we were included as two of the twenty people invited to Thanksgiving dinner at a neighbor’s house. After the meal, there were guitar playing, singing and dancing, local entertainment that brought us all together as neighbors and members of the community.
Food is a common attractor, as is gravity. At most open-air markets, one can buy Navajo fry bread and lamb stew, tamales and burritos, and of course good Anglo hot dogs and hamburgers. From our harvest of Big Jim peppers and cayenne peppers, we’ve made red and green chile jellies, which we serve with cream cheese and crackers for guests or as a frosting for roast chicken and pork, and for Christmas as Southwestern gifts.
Although gravity is recognized as a law of the universe, it is also an unknown factor in the Unified Field Theory, the long-sought answer to the Theory of Everything. While not fully understood, certain aspects are known: the greater the mass, the greater the pull of gravity, such as the smaller mass of the moon creates a smaller gravitational pull. Considered weak by earth’s gravity, it still has enough power to pull our largest oceans back and forth giving us our tides.
Earth’s gravity also pulls the roots of our seedlings into the soil, while the moon’s pull helps the moisture in the seeds break through the protective outer covering and, with the sun, pull the stem and leaves upwards. . The amount of gravitational pull decreases as distance is gained from the source.
Scientists who once thought deep space was “empty” are now catching glimpses of what may be an unrecognized form of gravity, which prevents space objects from following irregular courses. Whether it’s dark bodies, black holes, or something yet to be discovered, the universe is a balanced and controlled system.
What seems to be natural in controlling a universe needs to be created here on our planet. While there seems to be an excessive control of humanity, there is also a need for the accumulation of masses that attract those of peace and good will, breaking into pieces the marble monolith of the cruel and selfish nature of man. When “I” becomes “we”, we will grow.