Earlier this week, I was having a having a meaning-of-life discussion with a group of guys when one of them started talking about his intense appreciation of nature. Trees, flowers, rivers. He talked for awhile until one of the other guys said one word: "Woodpeckers." The conversation came to a grinding halt. There seems to be a woodpecker-outside-your-window-in-the-early-morning exception to the rule that we should appreciate nature. Nature's miniature jackhammers.