Silent Spring

I had some calls - screening interviews - last week for contract jobs doing systems analysis. I was assured there would be requests for in person interviews this week. Hmmn. Today is Wednesday. Is this phone working?

The weather has been fabulous lately, after a rainy start to the spring. I am outside most of the day, puttering, weeding, mowing, and sitting in the shade, marveling at the natural beauty of flora and fauna.

A huge variety of birds pass through the yard if you just sit down for a minute and listen for them. Of course there are our resident cardinals who have built a nest in the very bush that I was planning to cut down - Now, this project is postponed until after the eggs have hatched and the chicks have flown. But there are numerous other species: A Baltimore Oriole was sitting on the cedar fence yesterday. Two red tailed hawks making lazy circles in the sky. A lost Canadian goose flies over, honking desperately. There are also bluejays, crows, doves, robins, woodpeckers, mockingbirds, and many that I cannot identify. Their trillings, squawks, chirps, tweets and caws emanate from the trees like the noisy parrots in the jungle. The ambient noise of life. I heard somewhere that those sweet sounds of birds are actually angry threats identifying territories or requests for mating privileges. It sounds more like a racket when you think the songs are being sung by thugs and harlots.

Well, it still beats the sound of phones ringing, the kid in the next cube who talks about nothing but cars, the paging system, and other typical office related sound track.

Other wildlife abound. I throw stones at the odious squirrels - who dig up my lawn in their frenetic search for...what the heck are they looking for anyway? Chipmunks are left alone to scurry and chirp as they please, although my stand of catmint does attract the local outdoor cats. I like seeing them - they chase away most of the rodentia. In the evening, we are visited by skunks and raccoons. One got into the garage the other night looking for food. My three indoor cats sit on windowsills watching the action outside. They are entertained by the reality show being played out.

Work? Yes I'm working. I have a list of chores and tasks. I am also monitoring the neighborhood building projects. Next door, they are setting up the forms for the extended foundation. Someone has to make sure they are doing it correctly. And later, the concrete trucks will be onsite.

I may not be getting paid in the coin of the realm, but the reward of seeing the newly mown lawn and the dark earth of a freshly-weeded flower bed gives one a sense of satisfaction that must be pre-wired into our DNA from ancient ancestors, embedded in our medula oblongata. You cannot get that same satisfaction from a data model or from a meeting that went well.

Cripes, listen to me. I need to get a job pretty soon, or the next thing you know I'll be one of those old guys sitting on a bench seemingly at peace with the world. Who needs that?