My head feels like it is going to explode today NOT because I have Head Explosion Syndrome which would be an excellent excuse. My head is going to explode because, despite my best machinations, again, nature has defeated my attempts to tame it.

“Nature” is too big a word, I think. My attempt to outsmart Rat has been defeated. Rat is part of natural world – he is part of nature, but nature must mean myself, too? Right? As I am part of the natural world.

I find it confusing when people think of themselves as above and separate from the natural world and its inhabitants. It is likely easy to do, if we are not practiced at viewing our values and their effects on the natural world surrounding us and the other inhabitants in it.  

Barak Obama breathes the same air as do we all; Bill Gates wakes up by the same sun; the physical processes of wealthy man are the same as poor men, requiring similar sustenance and activity for good health.

The modern age is confusing because no one seems to be self-regulating. Seems like there is no system of thought in place to prevent the powerful from the most egregious errors. It’s like such people are flying blind.

For example, I felt rather certain that Rat served no useful purpose in my enterprise. He gives me the creeps because well, he creeps. He is designed to creep. He scavenges.

Scavengers serve a useful purpose, however. Perhaps I have been too hasty in my judgment? Squirrels gather maple seedlings every fall in my yard, for that I am grateful. Rat gathers crumbs at the hen’s food dish, food that may get soggy in the dirt and be wasted anyway. Ben Franklin insists “do not allow untidiness in appearance or habitation” because, well, the creepy things that ensue. Of course, that makes sense in retrospect.

The reason my head is going to explode is because, well, (I must admit this for mental health purposes. There is something redeeming about honesty) I put extra hay around the hutch to protect hens from the bitter winter winds. While I was doing it, I wondered whether I was overthinking this. Do hens naturally stay out all winter, carefree from cold? I doubt that is true.

Still, I had a sense of doubt about my actions which I reasoned to be not worth pursuing. Hay? What ill can become of a bit a hay?

Anyhow, the extra layer of hay has been like a Florida condo for Rat. He lives in the hay, rummages his way to the hens’ food dish, (scavenging crumbs on his way) then dives back in the hay pile. The happiest creature I have ever beheld! He has been doing this all day!

Has Rat left the dirty underground life in the shadows to live with the rest of us folks in the light of day? Who would think a rat would be happy? He is happy.

My head is going to explode. That is NOT what was supposed to happen.

Anyhow, the point is, if we cannot allow nature to do what it does sometimes, which is to defeat and humiliate us, then we are not being honest. If we are not honest we can not be good human beings. We cannot govern our own selves; we are certainly not capable of governing anyone else.

I do not know what will become of Rat, or the hens. But I think I better listen more carefully to the cautionary signals I experience. There is certainly more to this world than what my natural mind can logically explain.

And, to further repent of my snobbery to the sleek rodent, there is NOT a whole lot going on to be happy about these days. A rat having fun in the hay makes me happy, despite how much disapproval this will brook in all quarters.