So, I left my apartment and walked out to the parking lot. There it was right in front of my building. A beautiful work of art in the snow.
Its like tiny little crop circles... but they're snow circles.
I thought perhaps an artistic kid in the apartment complex made it. But subconsciously I knew that wasn't the case. I knew that this wasn't made by a human. Later on it dawned on me that there were no footprints or any other sign of humans nearby. But at first I sat there pondering it. What WAS it? I looked for the beginning and the end of the snow doodle.
And there, right where it stopped was a largish dark rock. It actually looked a lot like a piece of coal. At this point my conscious brain still thought it was done by a child or maybe even an adult. I stared at it a bit admiring it. But then my subconscious smacked me out of my daydreaming and said "Thats not a lump of coal! Even though its seasonally appropriate, why would some kid be drawing with a lump of coal in the parking lot you fool!"
So, I thought "I'll show you." And I was winding up give that lump of coal a little kick across the parking lot when IT MOVED!
And then it kept moving. Round and round in frantic little circles.
I watched it for a while, trying to figure out what on earth was going on.
Then I took more pictures. And a short video.
At this point I'm thinking "ummm go home vole! You're drunk!"
And then he did a pathetic little tumbling summersault, righted himself, and stopped to rest. I could see his whole body heaving in an out with his breathing and I swear I could see his frantic little heartbeat.
The poor little guy wound up in the parking lot somehow and was trying to borrow back underground. He was desperately searching for some soft ground but stuck on asphalt. I didn't see a clear trail of how he got TO this spot in the parking lot. Maybe it was covered by the snow that fell while he was running in circles. Or, maybe he had narrowly escaped a hawk or owl or other predator that dropped him there. Whatever happened, he was NOT happy.
He was also in the middle of the parking lot, which is a pretty bad place to be if you're a vole.
Here's the best picture I could get of him:
I tried to shoo him out of the parking lot but he was just so distraught and confused and scared that he couldn't even run from me. I probably could have just picked him up. I had my leather gloves on and considered it, but ran back to my apartment for a small box instead.
He climbed right into the box as if he knew he was being rescued. But, as I carried him to some nearby brush he seemed to have second thoughts about the whole thing. Perhaps being carried in a box feels a lot like being carried by a predator. He wasn't injured at all, just scared. I tried to get some pictures while he was in the box and easier to see, but then he started trying to escape. He did escape once, but we were still far from any sort of cover and the snow really wasn't deep enough on its own. So, back into the box he went and I took him closer to the cover of the nearby brush.
I don't even know if he'll be able to dig into the frozen ground, but its gotta be better than running frantic little circles in the parking lot. I imagine there's a life lesson in this. Something about desperately circling in parking lots that rings true this time of year especially. So instead of frantically rushing around to finish your holiday shopping, try to take a moment to stop and enjoy time with your loved ones. Remember that the true holiday spirit has nothing to do with presents or shopping or parking lots.
And, admire the beauty in the world. Step back and look at the bigger picture. See that art often stems from desperation. At least I think those are the lessons here. It truly was beautiful art... made by a vole.
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