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The Mystic Bush - Oh the Moments We Treasure, Pt 2
19 years ago
General
Excerpt from “Shasta’s Time” - Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling, 1996
This is just a little glimpse of some of the antics that can be had by turning a 200-lb cougar loose into your life (and house). Enjoy!
The Mystic Bush
Now there were times when it would’ve been fun to know what it was that was going through Shasta’s head. And at other times, I was sure I didn’t want to know.
Now Shasta was certainly known for doing strange things. On top of that, he did them at random, at some cosmic, feline whim. Like I said, I had to wonder at times, exactly what strange blizzards of thought raged through his cougar brain.
So here I was, sitting there talking to Josh about nothing, in between rounds of getting beat up by a mountain lion, and Shasta comes flying out from under a bush that’s next to the fence. He lopes across the yard as if heading somewhere with a purpose, then halts virtually on a dime, and flips back a few paces to a bush he’s just streaked past. Okay. I can deal with that...
At first, he just stares at it. Then his expression gets more intense, and his head tilts to one side. Shasta alternated side to side for a few seconds, and I had to wonder for a moment if maybe the bush had spoken to him in some druidic dialect that only he could hear and understand.
Then he takes a step back, and crouches down as if making ready to pounce on the bush. Then he unclenches and stands full height again, and a moment later, reaches out with a paw, and gently starts patting the top of the bush. Then, just like he began, the paw plants into the grass again, and his face is into the bush for another close inspection, complete with head tilting.
Again, Shasta steps back, and gently starts patting the top of the bush.
Josh has now noticed that I’m no longer involved with the conversation, and he looks at what I’m looking at: Shasta and the Mystic Bush.
“What’s he doing?” Josh asks after another complete evolution of Shasta’s look-sideways/pat-the-friendly-bush.
“I have absolutely no idea,” I said in all honesty.
“I don’t doubt that.”
Josh paused as we took in yet another of Shasta’s evolutions of the same thing.
“Kinda makes ya wonder what ‘ee’s thinkin’,” Josh commented.
“I’m sure I don’t wanna know.”
With that, Shasta suddenly turned to me, and had this shocked/horrified look on his face. A split second later, he did a back-flip, and shot back across the yard and dove underneath the safety umbrella of his favorite next-to-the-fence bush.
Josh and I watched this event in awe/amazement.
“I think yer right,” Josh said after a strange silence. “I’m sure we’re safer not knowing.”
I could only nod.
This is just a little glimpse of some of the antics that can be had by turning a 200-lb cougar loose into your life (and house). Enjoy!
The Mystic Bush
Now there were times when it would’ve been fun to know what it was that was going through Shasta’s head. And at other times, I was sure I didn’t want to know.
Now Shasta was certainly known for doing strange things. On top of that, he did them at random, at some cosmic, feline whim. Like I said, I had to wonder at times, exactly what strange blizzards of thought raged through his cougar brain.
So here I was, sitting there talking to Josh about nothing, in between rounds of getting beat up by a mountain lion, and Shasta comes flying out from under a bush that’s next to the fence. He lopes across the yard as if heading somewhere with a purpose, then halts virtually on a dime, and flips back a few paces to a bush he’s just streaked past. Okay. I can deal with that...
At first, he just stares at it. Then his expression gets more intense, and his head tilts to one side. Shasta alternated side to side for a few seconds, and I had to wonder for a moment if maybe the bush had spoken to him in some druidic dialect that only he could hear and understand.
Then he takes a step back, and crouches down as if making ready to pounce on the bush. Then he unclenches and stands full height again, and a moment later, reaches out with a paw, and gently starts patting the top of the bush. Then, just like he began, the paw plants into the grass again, and his face is into the bush for another close inspection, complete with head tilting.
Again, Shasta steps back, and gently starts patting the top of the bush.
Josh has now noticed that I’m no longer involved with the conversation, and he looks at what I’m looking at: Shasta and the Mystic Bush.
“What’s he doing?” Josh asks after another complete evolution of Shasta’s look-sideways/pat-the-friendly-bush.
“I have absolutely no idea,” I said in all honesty.
“I don’t doubt that.”
Josh paused as we took in yet another of Shasta’s evolutions of the same thing.
“Kinda makes ya wonder what ‘ee’s thinkin’,” Josh commented.
“I’m sure I don’t wanna know.”
With that, Shasta suddenly turned to me, and had this shocked/horrified look on his face. A split second later, he did a back-flip, and shot back across the yard and dove underneath the safety umbrella of his favorite next-to-the-fence bush.
Josh and I watched this event in awe/amazement.
“I think yer right,” Josh said after a strange silence. “I’m sure we’re safer not knowing.”
I could only nod.
It must be such a treat to be able to interact daily with such beautiful and interesting creatures.
Who knows what animals are thinking? I'm quite certain that I wouldn't want to know. Well, that isn't true I suppose... But I think their minds work in ways that I'd have to be quite mad to fully understand ^_^
I suppose that if the purpose of art is to evoke an emotional response, then maybe some of these are the "best".
Those inages (whether photo or art) that can capture one of those "I wonder..." moments are truly priceless. That's really why I wrote this small snippet, as I'm not sure, in this case, a picture could have captured it.
Then, there is an entirely different argument: maybe it's not about /what/ they're thinking, but rather, the acknowledgement that they /are/ thinking. Personally, I think they /are/. But that will probably always be a "scientific" debate-topic.