{"id":13335,"date":"2021-05-07T14:02:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T21:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=13335"},"modified":"2021-05-15T09:57:22","modified_gmt":"2021-05-15T16:57:22","slug":"a-childs-garden-of-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-childs-garden-of-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"A Child\u2019s World of Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Nested Owls on the Ranch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Private Papers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Part One<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the problems of the modern world is our helicopter society of well-meant, but over-parentage.  Or is it the belief that the more we shield and protect our children, the safer they become, as if a houseplant carefully tended can survive when thrust outside among weeds and thistles. Do orphaned doves who fall from the nest survive better (if at all) when we take them inside and nurse them for 3 months?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was blessed to have grown up free-ranged on a farm in the quiet time of 1950s and early 1960s, and I think probably grew stronger even for the occasional scary brush up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I remember that lost world as a cosmos of animals, everywhere as we ranged at five and six: Blue-belly lizards at our feet. Millions of tadpoles, pollywogs and frogs when the pond rose and flooded the canals. Hordes of June bugs we feared were poisonous during the Late Great June Bug Scare, and such. A white heron on the water, raccoons like hobbits staring out from the cottonwoods, even a slimy salamander on the pond\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mother said when we were freed on Saturday mornings to explore the farm, \u201cOk, walk the alleyways to your grandmother\u2019s. No bare feet. And don\u2019t go near the paved road.” And she teased, “Wave to those weasels by the lower orchards. Don\u2019t kill a snake.\u201d (Rattlers were long ago exterminated in the 1880s and forced back into the Sierra foothills, by farmers who did the same with jack rabbits.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were well acquainted with pellet and BB-guns by six, and 22s by eight.  I was a loud mouth at seven who drill-billed my poor father nonstop, \u201cBut dad, is the .22 Hornet better than the .22 Long Rifle, and which beats the .220 Swift? And what are centerfire bullets?\u201d He smiled and said \u201cWhoa, son, slow way down, and learn. Don\u2019t talk when you can listen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dad barked shooting rules and commands: \u201cDon\u2019t shoot anywhere but down or up.\u201d (e.g., if the cotton tail rabbit is on a crest of a hill, let it be.) \u201cAnd don\u2019t even think of shooting that\u00a0red-tail or mocking bird. Why would you ever shoot a finch or robin?\u201d That left innocent blackbirds and harmless scrub jays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometime he wrote his edicts in jest and, then again, not so much in jest, and posted them on the kitchen door:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo the boys of the Tinian North Field 313 Bombing Wing, Orders from Staff Sgt William F Hanson, CFC gunner: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Pvt. Victor: scrub bathroom floor, then windows, then clean toilet and sink.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    • Pvt Alfred: sweep patio, squirt it down, prune bushes; <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      • CPL Nels: monitor your command and vacuum the rugs.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        • All report to me in main mess for postop briefing.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Private Papers  Part One One of the problems of the modern world is our helicopter society of well-meant, but over-parentage.  Or is it the belief that the more we shield and protect our children, the safer they become, as if a houseplant carefully tended can survive when thrust outside among weeds and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-3t5","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12795,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/russias-putin-and-navalny-collide-who-will-survive\/","url_meta":{"origin":13335,"position":0},"title":"Russia’s Putin and Navalny collide; who will survive?","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"An article by my Hoover colleague Dr. Paul Gregory in The Hill To understand the events of Russian dissident\u00a0Aleksei Navalny\u2019s near-fatal poisoning and his Jan. 17 return to Russia, you must know that there are two Navalnys: Navalny No. 1 is described by Kremlin-controlled media as a CIA agent, corrupt,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11537,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/how-did-shane-end-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":13335,"position":1},"title":"How Did Shane End Up?","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review In director George Stevens\u2019s classic 1953 Western, Shane, a mysterious stranger and gunfighter in buckskin with a violent past, rides into the middle of the late-1880s Wyoming range wars between cattle barons and homestead farmers. 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The United States is currently the world\u2019s oldest democracy. But America is no more immune from collapse than were some of history\u2019s most stable and impressive consensual governments. Fifth-century\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The West"","block_context":{"text":"The West","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-west\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8169,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/can-israel-survive-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":13335,"position":5},"title":"Can Israel Survive?","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Traditional pillars of the tiny democracy\u2019s security have begun to erode. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East and North Africa. Eight million Israelis are surrounded by some 400 million Muslims in more than 20 states. 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