We All Need Each Other - A Lesson Taught by the Geese

The sun was hot and lovely yesterday!  80 degrees in April!  Wow.  Pretty unbelievable to have such warm weather here this early in the year.  While the rest of the country has been suffering from unusually cold weather, we have been enjoying unusually WARM weather here!  For which we are thankful, and not complaining about!  There have been days of showers interspersed with the sunshine, which has been just wonderful!

Since it was such a beautiful day yesterday, I had to get outside, away from my responsibilities at home, and just enjoy the sunshine for an hour or so.

I didn't have to call the dogs twice to ask if they wanted to come!

Both of them ready to go!  They love to ride in the pickup, and I love it too that they can come with me. They ride in the back of the pickup with the camper shell keeping them enclosed, so that I don't have to worry about them falling or jumping out as we ride along.  Annie fell out of our 4x4 pickup once as we were driving, and ever since then, I have been reluctant to take her in that pickup, and choose to take them with us when we are driving our smaller Ranger. 

As we walked through the woods, the dogs found lots to explore.

A single happy dandelion blooming away in the heart of the woods.

Our little path through the woods.

Lupins popping up everywhere in the woods!  Come June they will be a sporting a brilliant shade of blue-purple flowers!

Annie was full of anticipation as we walked.

Our path leads through a very rustic, and somewhat overgrown forest.

Downed trees from the winter that just mean a bit of extra exercise for us all!

This tree created its own little archway for us.  

After we left the forest, we headed down to the river.  What a surprise for me to see that the baby geese had been born! We have seen the mothers (and fathers too!) sitting on the eggs, waiting for them to hatch.  Today, they are in the water!  After doing some research I learned that  male and female Canada geese mate for life, and they help each other out to keep the eggs warm and safe.  It is common to see the male sitting on the eggs while the female stretches her legs for a bit.

Annie and Roger enjoying the chance to get wet!

And I... just enjoying the warm rays of sunshine on my skin... along with the beautiful views of mountains all around.

A quick drink for a thirsty soul.

Maybe even a bath!

Some rustle and tussle in the water makes things more fun!

Watching the geese and their babies swim around.

The growth of a new leaf silhouetted in the distant horizon mountain grandeur.

Another quick drink and splash!

Enjoying the cool refreshing water to play in.

Many other geese arrive on the scene to join the mommas and their babies in the water.

Loud calls back and forth as they swim around.

They really weren't happy with us on the shoreline.

Watching the little babies as they swam close by their mothers.

More and more geese fly in to swim with the babies.

Made me think of the saying "It takes a village to raise a child."  It is obvious the geese are doing just that!

When Annie and Roger would run down the beach towards the group of geese, they would all swim to each other in a circle, gathering the little babies into the circle and two geese would remain facing the dogs.  It was amazing to watch their survival instincts at work.

Such gentle beauty in action!  So wonderful to watch the little babies follow their mothers around, and other geese helping the mother to watch out for the little ones.

I was amazed at how many geese continued to fly in, and put themselves between the beach, the dogs and the baby goslings.  It was as if a call had gone out "danger, HELP!" and all who could arrived to help.  It just amazed me to see it happen.

Annie and Roger tried to swim out to the geese a couple of times, but some really loud honks and squawks caused them to retreat.

What a beautiful picture of love and community! I marveled at how the geese were so willing to help each other out to protect the goslings from danger.  What a marvelous life lesson was being enacted before my eyes.  We all need each other!  Mothers and fathers simply cannot do every possible thing that needs to be done to protect and help raise their offspring.  Family members, friends, community - are all important in raising healthy, happy, wonderful children.

What a beautiful day it was, and a lovely lesson shared with me by the geese and goslings.  :)