Monday, August 07, 2006
A REELY GOOD DAY
Saturday morning favorite youngest came down the hill from her new house and we opened the pen and released the guinea fowl Memaw had bought for her.
It had been determined they are old enough to face the world and begin to function in their intended purpose, which is to help control the quantity of ticks and bugs that invade the yard.
We fed them grain, talked to them and watched as they began to explore.
Soon they had ventured into the forest and we lost sight of them.
The rest of the day and night they did not return and we feared they had all become predator food.
This morning I woke early, walked up the hill, turned on the water, walked down the hill, watered the corn and squash garden, walked back up the hill, turned off the water, walked back down the hill and woke Memaw.
All this before seven o’clock!
Favorite youngest daughter came down shortly thereafter and a search for the missing guineas began. She searched and called for them from the edge of the forest.
No guineas.
Later, before we left for church, I looked again and there they were!
Well, three of the five were.
I scattered food for them but they weren’t interested. They had discovered a pile of deceased Japanese beetles Memaw had deposited when she emptied a trap.
I walked into the forest in a vain search for the other two and we went to church.
After church we rode to Mansfield and went to the festival at Baker Creek seed Company.
By the time we returned home it was late afternoon. God had sent down eight tenths of an inch of rain and the hot, sweltering day had cooled a bit.
The three “amigos” reappeared, scoured the yard, ate seeds I threw to them and later disappeared again.
Memaw and I went up the hill to Becky and Vernon’s where the four of us canned eleven pints of peppers.
While that was happening Becky looked out the window to the West, past the big oak tree to near the power lines and there was Turkzilla!
Turkzilla is a big wild tom turkey, so called because it is estimated that he weighs at least thirty pounds. He stayed there for a while and finally moved back into the forest.
Later I ventured down the hill to where he had been to see if I could discover what had attracted him to that place. About half way down I was entertained by what for all appearances was a dancing humming bird. He went up and down and side to side like a ballet dancer. I was really amazing.
The “amigos” again visited and left, then returned and are now roosting in the walnut tree which shades the movable pen that had been their home.
Ain’t God good?
Shalom for now
Saturday morning favorite youngest came down the hill from her new house and we opened the pen and released the guinea fowl Memaw had bought for her.
It had been determined they are old enough to face the world and begin to function in their intended purpose, which is to help control the quantity of ticks and bugs that invade the yard.
We fed them grain, talked to them and watched as they began to explore.
Soon they had ventured into the forest and we lost sight of them.
The rest of the day and night they did not return and we feared they had all become predator food.
This morning I woke early, walked up the hill, turned on the water, walked down the hill, watered the corn and squash garden, walked back up the hill, turned off the water, walked back down the hill and woke Memaw.
All this before seven o’clock!
Favorite youngest daughter came down shortly thereafter and a search for the missing guineas began. She searched and called for them from the edge of the forest.
No guineas.
Later, before we left for church, I looked again and there they were!
Well, three of the five were.
I scattered food for them but they weren’t interested. They had discovered a pile of deceased Japanese beetles Memaw had deposited when she emptied a trap.
I walked into the forest in a vain search for the other two and we went to church.
After church we rode to Mansfield and went to the festival at Baker Creek seed Company.
By the time we returned home it was late afternoon. God had sent down eight tenths of an inch of rain and the hot, sweltering day had cooled a bit.
The three “amigos” reappeared, scoured the yard, ate seeds I threw to them and later disappeared again.
Memaw and I went up the hill to Becky and Vernon’s where the four of us canned eleven pints of peppers.
While that was happening Becky looked out the window to the West, past the big oak tree to near the power lines and there was Turkzilla!
Turkzilla is a big wild tom turkey, so called because it is estimated that he weighs at least thirty pounds. He stayed there for a while and finally moved back into the forest.
Later I ventured down the hill to where he had been to see if I could discover what had attracted him to that place. About half way down I was entertained by what for all appearances was a dancing humming bird. He went up and down and side to side like a ballet dancer. I was really amazing.
The “amigos” again visited and left, then returned and are now roosting in the walnut tree which shades the movable pen that had been their home.
Ain’t God good?
Shalom for now
