On taking a walk with Paul......

March 6th

This afternoon, after a morning writing and thinking and sipping tea, I went for a walk with Paul, a neighbor, friend, and colleague in a couple of community committees.

My mind was still responding to second grader Evan's question: 'Just HOW big is the universe, Mr. Paull?'.

It was one of the most beautiful mornings - the blue sky and the glaringly-bright yellow sun lit up the damp brown but strikingly beautiful countryside. There wasn't a tree that the eye could see. We walked on the open prairie, about a couple of miles from home, and came across a prairie dog habitat. The black-tailed prairie dog, I understand,  once inhabited about 7 million acres of Colorado, and is now one of Colorado's most threatened mammals.

If you haven't seen a prairie dog, you've missed a treat.  Here's a picture:

The prairie dog is diurnal, likes to burrow underground,  and is about a foot or so long. It's social and lives in groups (called coteries) which consists of a breeding adult male, up to four breeding females, and their offspring. A coterie can have as many as forty members, ideal to keep away most predators.

Prairie dogs have an elaborate communication system to warn others of the presence of danger.

One was on duty when Paul and I approached the prairie dog universe, and soon every prairie dog bolted down its home.

Paul and I left the path, and I knew what to look for - those tiny, sun-bleached bones and skulls of long dead prairie dogs, and sure enough, within a minute or two, we collected a couple of jaw bones, skulls, and lots of rib, thigh and leg bones.

There were scores of beautiful pebbles lying round the prairie dog homes - dug up  by the prairie dogs - and fabulous pieces of petrified wood.

I was so struck by the size and beauty of the prairie dog universe. It covered the gentle slope, was dotted with coyote footprints, and occasional yucca. I wondered, as Evan did, about the universe I was standing in. How many prairie dogs lived here? What did they do when it snowed? Do they hibernate? What do they do when they have eaten all of the available plants? Where do they get water? How long do they live?

My mind was full of questions as  I cradled and stared  intently at the mineralized wood. Beautiful, wondrous, petrified, fossil wood..........magical!

For that moment in time, I was right in the heart of a wondrous universe.