Run, Little Turkeys--Run! "Caution" Flashes across the Sky...Like the Batman Sign

Last summer, my father told me about a culvert he'd kayaked through on his way to "the Other Side" of a local water system. KD and I checked it out but found more spiderwebs than water in the tubes. We did, however, find a fantastically huge turtle. KD tried to...catch it? I have no idea what she would have done with it. It's interesting enough to watch her haul her dog in over the side, midwater--can't imagine what she would have done with a snapper!

Today, I checked on the water KD had updated me on earlier in the week. Yup. High. Now there's hardly room for a kayak to get underneath the top of the culvert. (Every time I look at these melting waterways, I wonder about current speed and overhead clearance...and if it's possible to get decapitated while kayaking.)

I saw geese off to the west and tried to find their landing strip...as close as I could, without being a crow. Thousands of them were flapping on the water and cascading into and out of the sky. It was amazing.

In wonder, I kept driving. I saw some trucks parked near a rise and wondered what they were looking at. More goose-appreciators? I pulled over to the side and stopped.

I probably shouldn't have been surprised when I saw the man in camouflage. Shouldn't have been shocked at his methodical steps and attentive posture. Or the gun in his hand.

I still sat there and watched--rolled down my windows and slid back my sunroof. The sky held so many birds that the clouds looked like Holsteins. And then I heard the thud of the gunshot.

My head swiveled around...and up. Back to ground level--where was the hunter? Up to the sky. Where was the bird? I slid my sunroof back as quickly as its little motor would allow. The odds weren't good, but I could envision a bloody, flopping goose in my lap--and that wouldn't be good, either.

A mile south, I found myself back on the main highway. West was the next direction of pursuit. I debated checking out the ice coverage on the ponds to my southwest, but realized that nature was calling in ways other than through its beauty. A mile farther west, I turned north to take a less roundabout route. Hitting a washboard road, I realized it was very good to be on my way home.