The Last Word On Nothing

It’s been a rough week for wildlife in my neighborhood. Here are some of the things that happened:

1. Neighbors a few doors down had two MASSIVE red oak trees removed, and with them no doubt squirrel and bird nests with tiny creatures in them—wee newbies so trusting, waiting to be fed, not expecting their world to topple. When the heavy machinery arrived on the street, I knew what was coming, but it still crushed me to see those massive leafy branches disappear into the grinder to be turned into mulch. That sound has always made me cringe. I went looking for fallen squirrel pups after the deed was done, but there was nothing left.
2. It’s tree frog time and we have a pond, but we now also have three koi who, it turns out, like frog eggs for breakfast. So that first early morning after a riotous night of croaking and ‘phib love, no egg masses were floating at the pond edges and under fallen leaves as they used to in before-fish times. The same was true all the mornings to follow. So much effort on the frogs’ part, with nothing to show for it progeny-wise. I’m tempted to re-home the damn fish.
3. This frog.
   

   

   
   
4. There was a lovely cardinal mom nesting in a shrub just outside our front window and I’d been watching her for days, waiting for those pretty little eggs to hatch. Instead, while she was out one day (probably having scrammed because of our comings and goings nearby), her eggs were snatched and smashed. I found them cooking on the slate, mother bird nowhere to be found. It appears nobody even got the protein out of them. The nest now sits empty, recalling happier times.
5. The invasive plants in our yard are going nuts. And they’re all things that I planted, because many moons ago I didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t realize an ornamental or two would ultimately take over every spot of soil on the planet.
6. In digging up some of said invasive plants (a Sisyphean task if there ever was one), I beheaded/halved so many worms. What a shame. (I believe some can regenerate, but still. That can’t possibly feel good.)

Thanks for letting me gently weep.

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Sad pics by the author. I left out the diced worm because it looked like a backyard crime scene photo.