Here in Omaha, Nebraska at the Great Plains Theatre Conference most of the talk is about two things: plays, and the weather. The refrain has been, “We’re going to get some weather.” That was accompanied by instructions on how to find the shelter in our individual residences or in the main building here on the hosting college’s campus. When I saw the news coverage of tornadoes in pretty much all the states encircling this one, I understood just how euphemistic “some weather” was — and the imp in me perversely wished some of that would come here. (Very bad idea, I know.)

The day before I left L.A., I saw a mourning dove on the fence opposite our house. This in itself wasn’t especially interested, our own back yard and entire neighborhood being a favorite place for mourning doves. But ours have always been gray — indeed, that’s why I thought they were called “mourning” doves, because it looks as though they’re in mourning. I found a photo of his fellow on the left on the internet, and yes, he looks a bit pinkish/brown in some places, so imagine him as more purely gray. Now look at this one:

He’s tan and brown — no gray. He stood out among the six or seven relentless gray mourning doves surrounding him. Maybe they’re common elsewhere, but I’d never seen a brown mourning dove before. My first thought was: Are there brown mourning doves and I’ve never seen them before, or is this a mutant freak right here in my own neighborhood? A little internet search later (well, just now) revealed that they aren’t uncommon , even though I’d never seen one before. So either I’m not terribly observant , or they’re not in my neighborhood.

The shocking intrusion of the brown mourning dove in no way prepared me, though, for what I saw just an hour ago. It was sleek and black and fuzzy and looked at me and ran straight up a tree and I thought, “Is that a squirrel?” Because, similarly with the brown mourning dove, I’ve never seen a black squirrel. Thank God again for the internet, because here’s what it revealed:

So yes, there are black squirrels, and yes, that was a black squirrel I saw. It was also hands-down the handsomest squirrel I’ve ever seen (albeit photo-shy, because it kept running around the tree and away from my camera, hence the internet photo at left).

As someone who grew up out in nature I know one thing about nature that I like to share: Nature alternates between being boring and dangerous. If you don’t know what I mean about it being boring, then head out into a meadow and have a sit and see how long you handle that. It’s pretty dull. If you’ve ever been charged by a stag, or lived through a hurricane, or almost drowned during an incoming tide (I’ve done all three), then you understand the danger. Having in the space of just three days encountered a brown mourning dove and a black squirrel, I guess I should add that nature’s surprising; you’re never sure what you’re going to find in the place you’re in, if you look about.

My most unexpected sighting was about 20 minutes ago. Leaving one of the readings, I met Frederick J. Simons and his wife (that’s Mr. Simons on the lower left). Their family business? Omaha Steaks. It was a pleasure telling the Simons that I’m a loyal customer, having stocked my freezer at home many times with Omaha Steaks, and sending them to my mother on special occasions. The Simonses are supporters of this conference and were attending the reading of a play (a very fun new play) that I served as a panelist for. It’s gratifying to know that one of the companies I support is supporting an artform that supports me.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 25th, 2008 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.