Odd or common?

jackspark · Odd or common?

Something I have noticed for several years but kept to myself: every time I ride in the summer I have a wing man or co-pilot. This is a pic of the culprit, it's a Hackberry butterfly. I never have other types of butterflies, just this guy. They land on my bare arm or tee shirt and ride along. I love them and never shoo them away, maybe they like to ride too? Does anyone else have something weird that they have been keepin to themselves?

4theloveofjake

That's pretty cool Nancy. My friend has a book that tells what each animal signifies in ones life. I'll ask her to look up the butterfly. Beautiful little creature, aren't they?

jackspark

Thanks Sherry, I have had then, in my life, all along. Just strange

Peeperpuppy

Mine of late seems to be bunny rabbits. They get in the middle of the road & plant themselves - an unmoveable force. I actually got out & tried to shoo one out of the road & he was trembling but didn't budge.

With my Dad & sister it was deer. Grandpa, well, he had a whole host of different ones. They'd just come to him. My Dad's father had Blue Jays. Sometimes they'd come screach at him - he said later that he knew they were telling him that he knew he was doing something wrong.

I'd say it's normal but then again, Nancy, you know I'm weird

thelmanelle

I get pretty dragonflies on my hands at times. They fly around when we are cooking outdoors with the family and visiting. Then, land on my fingers as though they were a beautiful ring. Kinda cool!

jackspark

Peeperpuppy

LOL, Nancy... once upon a time I was totally freaked out & tried to hide it. Something happened in the last couple of years & I'm kind of fond of my weirdness. I'd be lost without it

HopeMissouri

Pyewackets?

alexwein

Hmm, over the years, since childhood, I've had visitations from a pantheon of critters. The last was a rash of jackrabbits! It started at the Brent Graef clinic. That was a really powerful experience for me on many levels, not the least of which I ended up sleeping in my car at the barn where the horses were kept. Long story, but it was actually quite wonderful. Got to be with the horses at night and feed and be with them in the AM. Heard coyotes and critters all night. Very soothing and I felt like I was home!

Woke up one morning and sat straight up and looked out the back window. There was a jackrabbit--a huge and beautiful fellow--looking right back at me. Must have heard me rustling around. He sat there for a very long while. At least 15 minutes. Long enough for me to start to think, okay, maybe he could move along so I can lay back down. For some reason, I didn't want to let go of the moment, which became many long moments. Ha!

Finally, his ears twitched (they were really huge, btw), and he slowly moved off, hopping around nonchalantly, picking his way around the yard. He eventually moved off to the side of the road and sat there for about a half hour.

From that point on, I've been seeing jackrabbits everywhere! Mind you I haven't seen a rabbit in years. Now, on my way to the barn here in Ashland, I have been seeing four, five or more rabbits every morning! A few cottontails, must mostly jackrabbits. They hop out in front of my car and lead me along, come visiting when I'm in the barn, you name it. It's fallen off lately in the past week or so. I've only seen one or two this week as opposed to several daily. So my jackrabbit phase must be waning!

I have this kind of thing happening with different animals all the time. Me, I believe the world is talking to us all the time if we take the time to listen. Which is one of the 'messages' my rabbit friends have been trying to reinforce for me!

I have some critters that seem to appear regularly, on and off. Like crows and ravens, who I've had very close contact with, and hawks. We have lots of them around here, but I've had some very close encounters. Like a huge, and I mean gorgeous! red-tailed hawk landing on a fence post and staring at me from a few feet away--three days in a row! And the time we had 12 hawks sitting on fence posts as we drove by going from Portland to Ashland. And the one that took a bird from my bird feeder in the middle of Portland, Oregon, and stood with the bird in its claws for about 20 minutes, staring straight at me through the window. That was the very first sighting. Did the same thing to my husband two days earlier, sans the glass and it was a squirrel, not a bird. This all happened within a period of a month.

And the coyote who was rumored to live in our neighborhood in Portland, who I never saw until we were deciding to give up trying to save our house and let it all go to begin again. I never believed there was a coyote, since for two years I'd never seen it. We lived close to downtown Portland, after all. Then we both had two huge sightings. Like walking out of our front door and having this big, gorgeous coyote staring at us from across the street. Twice in two days! And having it stare at us as we drove away down the street, never moving.

These things happen, hawks and coyotes show up in cities and do things like that, but there's something special when you know an animal is drawn to you for some reason. Or when you know it's the 'world' talking to you. I am no lah-lah person, if you know what I mean. But it is my deep conviction that we are connected to everything, and live in a web of interaction and communication. So I take it to heart when an animal decides to show up in my life. There have been many others, hummingbirds, snakes, horses of course, and other critters who have appeared in my life in some significant way at different times. I always look for what they are appearing for, how it speaks to me.

Okay, I'm an official weirdo too, but tell me something I don't already know.

jackspark

HopeMissouri

I was thinking in terms of "familiar spirits".

Peeperpuppy

Alexwein,

The people I work with used to really freak out when things like this would happen. I work for a wildlife agency so animals aren't exactly shocking however when the dogs come in the door & search me out... that freaked them out. I am in the basement, WAY in the back. To get to me you have to come to the side door & be allowed inside or you come in the front door at the sliders & go down long hallways & down several flights of stairs. It is a virtual maze to get to me.

I heard someone make an 'EEEEEkkkk!' & one of the big bosses stuck his head down my hall & hollered, "GET out here" to me. So out I came. In the hallway was a HUGE brindle dog. People where I'm from didn't know what he was. They thought he was some kind of wolf-mix or pit bull cross. What he really was, however, was a big Dutch Shepherd's Dog. Anyone trying to approach him would get a look that said he'd only warn them once not to touch him. I've never seen this dog before & I know he didn't track me through the halls. It'd been months since I'd gone up to the front desk as I'm anchored to my desk due to the phones. The minute he saw me, he wagged his tail as if greeting his master. I said, "Well, you found me. What do you want?" He came square in front of me & sat down mouth opening, tongue lolling out to the side, eyes bright.

They were right, he was my dog but not in a way I could explain. People sometimes bring their hunting dogs in & dogs who seldom disobey their owners do so & find my office. The funniest one yet is the big landseer newfoundland who bounced in & hopped up on my desk... papers & computer monitor flying (btw I did catch it) & Moe flopped both front feet on my shoulders & slurped me right in the face.

They call me the dog thief but I've been summonsed a few times by the wild ones. I've never had a bunny fetish. I love all the cute fuzzies but lately it's rabbits (cotton tails here). The humming birds come for my husband. That sort of thing freaks him out so he just says they're hungry

He never expected that once he showed the first one that he 'got it' that they needed him for something that they'd keep coming to him for help, for feed, etc... Hilarious when the old herdsire, our bull, Red, would come ask for his help when the cows were threatened.

Yes_But_Neigh

Butterflies and Hummingbirds. I didn't have Hummingbirds visit me until my grandmother passed. She loved Hummingbirds. When I was 14, in indio to braid horse's manes- a hummingbird came right up to my face, looking me in the eyes and stayed "floating" there for what seemed like an eternity. I just felt like it was my grandma's doing. Ever since, if I peel my eyes open hard enough or just look out of the corner of my eye, there's a hummingbird. Darling little creatures. I'm 22, so this has been going on for 8 years?

I love that the butterflies go on rides with you. It's almost as if they are keeping you safe

jackspark

YBN, if they are they are doin a damn good job! Haven't had a wreck in a long time

4theloveofjake

The name of the book my friend has is called "Animal Speak" by Tom Andrews and it says about butterflies ........

They represent change and show us that change can be gentle, sweet and bring immeasurable joy

jackspark

4theloveofjake

Yes Nancy, perhaps they are saying thank you or could it be representative of changes within you ? A transformation ? Maybe a blossoming of sorts ? Animals are so perseptive

jackspark

I just think it's odd because it is just that one kind........Hackberry. Could it be that THEY have more of an affinity for human contact? We differentiate between breeds of horses, dogs, etc. Do you think that ALL animals have personality types, even differentiating between insects?

Clarissa

They might like the salt in your perspiration.

Here is a similar butterfly I snapped several years ago where I live If memory serves me right Nancy, you commented on when I used it as an avatar last year along with other wildlife from this area.

jackspark

bit

Getting assaulted by all the B flies in my ecinasia by the front door. Huge numbers. I used to find it very comforting that they chose to land on me until I realized they also like manure. It's the moisture, not my spirit they love.
For me, it's always been ravens. But all birds, really. I seem to have an affinity for winged beings. No ravens in Kansas, just crows. I really miss them.

jackspark