Nature Lovers

 

Nature Lovers

My dad loved camping, and that’s how we spent all of his vacation time when I was growing up.  That was fine with me; I loved it all – swimming, fishing, hiking, and campfires.  We almost always camped in the National Forest of northern Wisconsin or Upper Michigan.  I remember one year when my mother actual counted the days; we were all a little surprised to find that my dad had cleverly combined vacation, holidays and regular scheduled days off so that we spent 35 days under canvas instead of under the roof of our home that summer.

My parents taught us to respect our campsite and our neighbors.  We always sawed and split firewood late in the morning after everyone was awake.  The campsite was raked daily.  All garbage was promptly deposited in the requisite trash collection bins.  And when we left a site we always left enough firewood for the next people to have at least one fire. 

We did bring Ginger, our golden retriever, with us, but she was usually quiet and very well behaved.  We kept her leashed in the campsite, and when we walked her, as was required.  But, she couldn’t help chasing any red squirrels or chipmunks that came just a bit too close.  Usually, she would make one lurch at any of the pesky critters, aware of the length of her leash. 

On the second day of camping trip to Franklin Lake a young couple in their twenties pulled into the empty campsite next to us.  They must have been fairly new to camping on their own because they didn’t have much gear.  They pitched a tent, rolled out sleeping bags; the rest of the boxes and bags were set on the picnic table.

Life became a little amusing when they began to set out chips, crackers and cookies on a large tree stump in their campsite, and they began photographing the chipmunks and red squirrels that jumped up on the stump to partake.  Intentionally attracting animals into your camp isn’t the best of ideas.  I shrugged my shoulders, shook my head and went swimming.

Later when I returned from the beach, I had to walk past our new neighbors’ site.  The man scolded me because he had seen Ginger chase and even bark a couple of times at a red squirrel.  While he was lecturing me that he and his wife came camping because they were ‘Nature lovers’ and it was irresponsible to let our dog bark at the little critters.  Suddenly the man and I both turned our heads when we heard Ginger let out a “Woof”.  We saw her lunge at a red squirrel; this time her legs were churning.  When she reached the end of her leash all I saw was bits of her chain collar flying in different directions; it never even slowed her down.  The red squirrel barely made good on its escape as it climbed a big red pine to safety.  The man just stared grimly, folded his arms across his chest and shook his head.  As much as I would have loved to stay and chat I ran back to camp.  I dug out Ginger’s spare collar and leashed her back up.  I was relieved when the couple next door got in their car and left. 

The couple didn’t return until dusk that evening.  We already had our evening campfire burning.  I was wondering if the man was going to come over and continue to voice his displeasure to my father, a move I wouldn’t have recommended, when I heard the couple, suddenly with raised voices, but they weren’t yelling in our direction or at each other.  They seemed to both be dismayed at something, but I wasn’t sure what.

The next morning, as I raked the campsite after breakfast, I saw the couple, both the man and the woman, throwing rocks at chipmunks and yelling at them to “Git Out!”  It seemed they had fallen out of love with Nature.  Later, I saw the man coming over; I went over by Ginger to make sure that she stayed calm.  I listened as he explained to my dad that while they were gone yesterday the chipmunks and squirrels had chewed several holes in their tent to get at all of the snacks and food that they had put in there for safekeeping while they drove to town.  He wanted to know if they could borrow Ginger for the day to help them keep the chipmunks from coming back.  I had told my parents about the lecture I had received from him, so my dad very quickly decided that loaning them Ginger for chipmunk duty wasn’t the best idea.  After all, having her chase chipmunks wasn’t something we encouraged. 

We watched them do some more rock throwing during the middle of the day.  By early afternoon they had decided that their tent was too damaged, so they packed up and left.  It was probably for the best to let everything go back to normal that nobody else pulled into that site for the remainder of the week.    

The experience reminded me that wild things are best left wild and never treated like something tame.  Nature should be truly loved, and never treated as there simply for our amusement.  It’s wise not to argue with an adult.  Try to understand the other person’s point of view, especially when you disagree.  No matter how unnecessary it may seem, bring a spare if you have one.   

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.  2 Timothy 2:23    

His Peace <><

Deacon Dan    

Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash

Photo by Richard Hamilton on Unsplash