It started some four to five months ago; I don’t remember quiet when. It was during our daily morning constitutional to our cogitation point, a spot selected by Buck and me some four years or so ago. Now its just Little Gus and I taking the walks. Just on a whim one day, I picked up several of the sticks lying around on the ground and placed them in a fork of the large China-berry tree just some twenty feet from our routine break spot. I didn’t think much about it at the time.
A couple of days later while sitting on the log I noticed that the sticks had been moved around, just a little. None of the sticks were very large, maybe eighteen inches to about three feet or so for the longest. They were now placed on another branch of the tree. What’s going on here? Little Gus and I walked over and moved the sticks back to our original fork.
The next day the sticks were again moved to the other branch fork. Again and again this happened, day after day going on for weeks at a time. When the weather was particularly bad, raining out or the grass in the area was extremely wet nothing would happen. But just as soon as the weather turned better it started all over again. It just kept going!
Once I took all the sticks and circled the trunk of the tree along the ground and attached a tail that meandered out some ten or twelve feet with an arrow like feathering at the end. Several days later the sticks were back up into their original fork.
Still, over and over the game continued on and on for some two months or more with neither of us, my Nemesis nor myself, seeing one another at their stealthily task. Just recently I have noticed that one of the sticks has been moved to a fork in another tree some thirty-five feet from the original. Again I ask Little Gus, “What’s going on here?” Each time that I spotted one of the sticks moved I retrieved it and placed it back with its companions.
This morning I decided to take another leap of faith. I took all the gathered sticks and moved them to a new tree that is in a completely different direction from all the previous activity.
I have no idea whatsoever who the Nemesis is. Is it an adult? Is it a man or a woman? Is it a juvenile who has a crooked sense of humor? Is it a child prompted by a parent to play the game? I just have not a clue at all. I have never seen anybody close to our spot; even while checking several time a day. Little Gus and I will watch the area, taking a walk down that direction frequently during several days a week. Maybe it’s a night Nemesis?
OK Nemesis. The game is afoot. Let’s see what you do now.
Did you ever find out anything more about the stick nemesis? Anymore clues? Your public wants to know!
ReplyDeleteThe sticks continue to move around from tree to tree but I still have no idea just who the Stickman(Boy or Girl) is.
ReplyDeleteThe Stickman has now taken off the entire week of Spring Break. Not a stick has moved in over a week.
ReplyDeleteThe Stickman returned sometime Saturday (27 Mar) and moved what looks like to be some two-thirds of my sticks. Where he//she put them is still a mystery. I haven't located a one of them YET.
ReplyDeleteI would say the stick nemesis taking spring break off supports the adolescent theory. What does Gus think?
ReplyDeleteLittle Gus thinks we spend entirely too much time moving sticks around when we could be pursuing squirrels or one (or two) of the forty gillion cats that live in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteChecking the 'sticks' this morning, I found them strewn all over the area. I think the 'Stickman' has become very vindictive and am not sure I will continue to pick up behind him//her.
ReplyDeleteThe Stickman returneth. He//she added the largest stick (longer and thicker)yet to the total. I don't know where he//she retrieved it from but I am glad to see that the game is still afoot.
ReplyDeleteH
Stickman continues to move the sticks around. Today several were found some distance from the tree. I replaced them and also moved the largest up to a higher limb V.
ReplyDeleteI think the Stickman has gone bonkers, really bonkers. All of the sticks were gone from the tree this morning. I found only one and put it back. The grass//weeds were too wet for Little Gus and I to be traipsing around hunting for sticks. I can't imagine what the Stickman is thinking.
ReplyDeleteStickman is at it again. Sunday I found a branch about 12-14 feet long and placed it above the routine spots on the lower branches of the stick-tree. Now it is the only stick remaining. The rest have been scattered all over the place - I assume. The grass has grown so tall that I can't locate them anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe city guys mowed yesterday afternoon and this morning Little Gus and I picked up many, many sticks and reloaded the tree for Stickman.
ReplyDeleteThe Stickman has returned with a vengeance. He//she has moved the sticks to an altogether different area and I don't know how many days I have been without noticing that this was taking place. Little Gus and I came across them just today (6/22). Of course, we tore them asunder and scattered them everywhere.
ReplyDelete