Rudy's Garden
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| Rudy July 1995 - December 26, 2012 |
My cat, Rudy passed away this past Christmas, on December
26, just a few days after I moved to the cabin. He was old and had been ill, so
he surprised me when he rallied to make the big move to the cabin. He surprised
me again by taking a sharp turn downhill within hours of beginning my country year. We arrived about 5pm on the evening of Friday, the 21st. By
early Saturday morning, he was clearly sick and spent the remainder of his days
in the hospital. The vet said stress is especially hard on old cats.
While Rudy was in the hospital, my brother, who was visiting
for Christmas, felled a broken cherry tree. It had been damaged in a storm the
previous fall and needed to come down. Jack suggested that we leave a 4-foot
stump on the cherry tree and mount a bluebird box on top, in hopes of
attracting a pair of Eastern Bluebirds this spring. I thought the chances of
attracting bluebirds were not that great since I had read that they prefer open habitats with
scattered trees. I had seen them routinely in that type setting at Glenlake
Park and Medlock Park in Decatur, but had never observed them here at the cabin
where the trees are more dense. Nevertheless, I liked the idea and agreed to
the plan, especially considering that Jack is the wildlife expert, and not I. Besides,
I figured a pair of titmouses or chickadees would find the birdhouse to their
liking, and that would suit me just fine too.
When Rudy passed the day after Christmas, I decided to bury
him at the base of the felled cherry tree, where he could keep watch over the
newly installed birdhouse. This sunny eastern slope just outside the cabin
windows seemed a perfect place to lay my Rudy to rest.
To my astonishment, within days of burying Rudy, bluebirds
found the holly berries that I had left on his grave, and I have seen them more
than once investigating the birdhouse that sits atop the cherry stump. I keep
restocking the berries on Rudy’s grave to keep the bluebirds coming back to
this area that I am now calling Rudy’s Garden.
A few weeks ago, I added a bird feeder and a suet cake to
Rudy’s Garden. Within a day, a white-breasted nuthatch had found the feeder
filled with seed. Not long after, another nuthatch joined him. Then a pair of
chickadees and some titmouses. A small downey woodpecker soon found the suet
cake, and has visited every day since. He’s there right now. Several days ago,
a group of house finches and a stray cardinal joined the growing crowd at the
seed feeder. Then a few goldfinches and a couple of pine siskins. I added
another feeder. The next day an entire flock, dozens maybe, of goldfinches and
pine siskins showed up. So I put more seed along a split log on the ground. The
log is part of what remains from the cherry tree; it is one of the few pieces
that I have not chopped and split into firewood. A squirrel found the seed on the
log and then told a friend. The two squirrels chow down there every morning
until they are overtaken by swarms of goldfinches and pine siskins.
I often sit at the window that overlooks Rudy’s Garden to
work or write. I enjoy the view, and the nearby woodstove and the sunny
exposure keep me warm on cold days. One afternoon last week, as I was sitting
at this window working, my face in the computer, something caught my eye. I
looked up to see a deer walking by, just a few feet from where I sat. Then I
saw another. Then four more. Six deer, casually strolling through. I see deer
often here, but never this close and never six at once. I sat very still and
watched these beautiful creatures and said a silent prayer of gratitude. The
birds, the squirrels, and the deer are all welcome in Rudy’s Garden.
"There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot."
from A Sand County Almanac
Essays on Conservation
~ Aldo Leopold
1948
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