According to Sam and Jim Commenting on things that irk us off, make us laugh out loud or just seem too weird too believe According to Sam and Jim: Coyotes and Geese Could Probably Adapt to Sequestering

Friday, March 1, 2013

Coyotes and Geese Could Probably Adapt to Sequestering

Worried about the potentially devastating effects of sequestration? Consider the lowly Canada goose, the black crow, the seagull and of course, ol’ Wily Coyote; those animals have adjusted to rampant urbanization and loss of natural habitat so successfully they actually are thriving. We can learn from them.

Sam and I recommend you read a book titled Who Moved My Cheese, a “motivational book” by Spencer Johnson. According to Wikipedia the book is written in the style of a parable or business fable. It describes change in one's work and life, and four typical reactions to said change by two mice and two "little people", during their hunt for cheese.

“The book features four characters: two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two little people, miniature humans in essence, "Hem" and "Haw." They all live in a maze, a representation of one's environment, and look for cheese, representative of happiness and success. One day both groups happen upon a cheese-filled corridor at "Cheese Station C". Content with their find, the humans establish routines around their daily intake of cheese, slowly becoming arrogant in the process.” But then something happens to their supply of cheese. Does this sound familiar?

Moral of the story? Adapt or you won’t survive.

In the case of Canada geese, you see those buggers all over the Pacific Northwest. Every park or area with a body of water, large or small, that Sam and I have checked out, is be-fowled by Canadian geese. Boy! If you think Sam can dispense the poop you ain’t seen nuttin’. When a gaggle of Canadian geese flock to the park where Sam and I usually walk, they deposit so much poop on the sidewalks we can hardly navigate. And I don’t even want to think about how much - uh - fertilizer they’re leaving on the soccer and rugby fields. Some cities and towns that have ponds or lakes consider the geese such a nuisance the towns hire people with dogs to chase the geese off or shoot cannons or hunt them. But nothing seems to faze those feathered fiends. They are easily scared off and if you’ve ever observed them closely, you’ll notice that wherever they flock together, they always have a sentinel or two posted to watch for and warn of impending danger. But they always come back. They have adapted to their loss of natural habitat so well they hardly migrate at all anymore.

In the case of the black crow, where can you go in the continental United States where you don’t see crows or ravens or whatever you call them? They’re all over. Nothing seems to faze them either - cold weather, hot weather, urban blight - nothing! I’ve seen black crows in the middle of absolutely nowhere standing in the middle of the road picking at road kill. They’re amazing. Seagulls are similarly amazing. I saw two of them hanging out in the parking lot of a Burger King last night, seemingly unconcerned about where their next meal was coming from. In fact, they weren’t even trolling for stray French fries or anything. They were just laying there with their feet folded under them like they were enjoying a quiet evening at home on their couch.

Countless movies and documentaries have been made showing how adaptable the coyote is to urbanization. In fact, a lot of times it seems like ol’ Wily prefers civilization to the wild because garbage cans offer a lot more food to eat. He doesn’t even have to chase a garbage can down and kill it. The one thing Sam and I think might be detrimental to the coyote is all the vegan meals being discarded. Poor Wily’s probably bewildered to the point of asking, “Where’s the meat?”

Adapt or die. Darwin said that’s the way of the world. Of course the Bible and that singer guy say, "Don’t worry be happy.” Yokay! A couple glasses of wine and I’m cool!

Two bags of poop on worrying about sequestering. Whad’ya gonna’ do, call a cop? There won’t be any.

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