Grow up! You live in Texas!

For the past several weeks, I had the joy of driving by fields of beautiful Indian Paintbrush wildflowers.  One day I even pulled over and made my kids wade through them for a photo opportunity, which may or may not make its way into a Father's Day gift for Christopher (the kids spilled the beans within about two minutes of said photo session).  Yesterday my flowers were gone.  Mowed down.  Obliterated.  With intense fury I marked my mental to do list to call the city and demand to know why my flowers were chopped down in their prime.

The answer was surprising.  The Parks Department didn't want to mow those fields.  They were forced into it by residents in the surrounding neighborhoods.  I said surely they couldn't have been complaining about those gorgeous flowers, right?  No, they were complaining about more mice and snakes than usual and demanded that the wildflowers be mowed to curb the problem.  The gentleman told me he really appreciated my call because it gave him some hope that there are still residents out there that appreciate the beauty of nature, but for every call like mine, he was fielding ten complaints about the mouse and snake population.  He had already delayed mowing well past the normal schedule because our relatively cool and moist spring has allowed these flowers to blossom longer than most seasons, but finally the resident demands became too much to handle.

Listen, I am as anti-critter as they come.  I don't even like most domesticated animals.  You will never catch me camping, hiking, or swimming in anything other than a highly chlorinated pool.  I like my animals safely contained at the Dallas Zoo.  However, we made a choice to live in Texas, in a suburb, where in the neverending battle of man vs. nature, you are going to lose.  You can't totally dominate your weeds.  You can't make it rain.  You can't determine whether your pest of the month is going to be the fire ant, coyote, rat snake, or armadillo.  You grow up and deal with it.  You accept that for whatever reason, Noah put those creatures on the Ark, and you put out a mouse trap or two if that's what it takes for the community to enjoy some flowers.