Sticker

December 16, 2023

Photo: Joseph DiTomaso

I recently started walking the two dogs together in the hopes that Zena will be able to calm Loki down.  They both get so excited when it is time to walk that I can hardly get their harnesses on as they jump over the top of each other wanting to be first.  Yesterday afternoon I decided to take the kids out for a walk around a local lake.  While the terrain makes it nearly impossible to walk “around” the lake, there are two parking areas/boat ramps, and one of those provides fishing access onto two mowed spits of land extending out into the lake.  That means I can park in the lot, walk several hundred yards (200 odd meters) out on the first, and then walk back to the lot.  Once there we stroll down the boat ramp to let the kids sniff and lap the water.  Then it is out and back a similar distance to the second fishing spit.  We have been closing our walk by circling the large parking lot.  As we walked around the lot, I noticed Loki began to limp and when I checked he had stepped on a sticker.  I removed it and we did not go more than another 20 yards (18 m) when he was limping again.  I never liked stepping on a sticker.

When I went online, I found Burr medic (Medicago polymorpha), also known as California burclover, toothed bur clover, and toothed medick, is a sticker-producing plant.  This herbaceous flowering plant (forb) is an annual broadleaf plant that inhabits agricultural land, roadsides, and other disturbed areas, as well as lawns.  The sticker is native to the Mediterranean basin but is found throughout the world.  New seedlings have seed leaves that are oblong, but the first true leaf is rounded.  Later leaves are tripartite, with a characteristic clover-like shape, appearing alternately on the stems.   The tiny yellow flowers attract small butterflies and other pollinating insects.  Full grown plant stems are up to 2 feet (60 cm) long, and usually sprawl along and/or under the ground.  The weed produces spiky sticker balls after it flowers that eventually dry up and turn brown.  The 0.27 inch (7 mm) seed heads are covered with hooked prickles that cling to the clothing or fur of any species that pass near it and facilitates the geographic spread of the seed capsules.  The plant leaves are good forage for most classes of livestock (except equine), but the stickers (fruit) are prickly.  It is also known to lodge in the paws of any dog (or human!) who steps on it.

As I removed the sticker from Loki’s paw it reminded me of the Aesop Fable about Androcles and the Lion.  Androcles ran away from his master and while wandering in the forest he came upon a Lion moaning and groaning.  Rather than run away Androcles turned back to help him.  The Lion put out his bleeding paw and Androcles removed a large thorn and bound up the paw.  When the lion was able to rise, he began to lick the hand of Androcles like a dog.  Shortly afterwards both Androcles and the Lion were captured, and the slave was sentenced to be thrown to the Lion who had been kept without food.  As soon the Lion was set loose, it bounded towards his intended victim.  The Lion recognized his friend, and again licked his hands like a friendly dog.  When the surprised Emperor heard the story of Androcles and the Lion, they were both set free.  The moral was that gratitude is the sign of noble souls.

Thoughts:  While Loki did not show the gratitude of Aesop’s Lion when I removed the sticker, he did appear to settle down.  That may have been because his foot was still tender after I removed the second sticker, but I prefer to believe it was out of gratitude.  Gratitude is defined as being thankful and having a readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.  We all face a sticker or two in life, and for some even greater.  Amid his desperate situation, Androcles took time to help a fellow traveler who stepped on his own sticker.  The Lion did not forget and repaid Androcles with gratitude.  We could all use a little more gratitude.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.