"Chewin' the Cud" is an online journal written by Chenoa Manor's Executive Director Dr. Rob Teti

Said the fox: "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret.   It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." 

All too often we find ourselves burdened with unimportant things in life.   Stressing about that over which we have little control; unable, or unwilling, to understand that all will work out as it should, irrespective of how many stomach ulcers we develop or how many sleepless nights we surrender to.

As the fox divulged to the Little Prince, the essential things are those we see with our heart, when we allow ourselves to be still enough to open our hearts to see and listen.

These invisible essentials surround us continually, wherever we are. I am fortunate enough to be reminded of this through the pastures of Chenoa Manor and my daily interactions with our animal residents. I try to make time to be a witness to these essentials as often as possible, because you never know when a golden moment of learning will present itself.

I am reminded of those invisible essentials when young Stella stops grazing in the pasture of golden dandelions and buttercups just long enough to lift her head and rest it on the shoulder of Olivia, an older black and white version of her little calf self;  when Benjamin puffs himself to resemble a Philadelphia Mummer on a New Year's Day parade, tail delicately as he struts among the geese, chickens, and ducks;  when Ezra and Lazarus, ovine companions, lower their heads to face each other and allow their massive skulls to lightly butt each other before resuming the close cropping of their green pasture;  when Margot and Gladys awaken and sashay from beneath a hay-pile, shaking off any accumulated debris with a grunt, hopeful for the tiniest morsel of an edible display of affection;  when Isabelle, the 30 year-old Mollucan cockatoo, subtly tilts her head to the side to invite her amorous Amazon admirer, Cha-Chi, to preen the crest feathers that she cannot reach;  when Xiou, the Chinese goose and self-appointed guardian of a trio of Pekin ducks, eschews the company of other geese to carefully tend to his flock, leading them to wading pools, whole corn kernels, and afternoon shade;  when Consuela eagerly performs her ritualistic chinchilla dust bath acrobatics, diving and rolling with zest and fervor in the cubicle that is filled with her bathing material;  when Ennis, with his eyes at half-mast and porcine head propped on my shoulder, utters low guttural grunts of bliss as I massage and scratch his belly and flanks;  when Atticus leans his behemoth light chocolate-colored head over the post and wire fence, muzzle pointed upward toward the sun, inviting curious and ginger fingers to rub and manipulate their way along his jaw line;  when, in a moment of inexplicable joie de vivre , Roo and his emu cohorts race around the pasture, parting small flocks of Muscovy and Pekin ducks as their finely textured feathers bounce and dance like feathered boas of Las Vegas showgirls late for their final curtain call;  when Timothy, eating the tender, newest leaves of the greenest weeds, hops aside to make room for Little Debbie, who has been bouncing, leaping, and pirouetting over his preoccupied, somewhat oblivious, rabbit self;  when Valentino reclines in the afternoon, absorbing the rays of the slowly setting sun, motionless, with a Zen-like meditative gaze, except for his deliberate, methodical chewing of cud and an occasional flick of an ear.

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the Little Prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

Posted: 5/15/2007