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Friday, January 4, 2013

Soar

January 4, 2013

I could give you the whole rundown of house guests since December 20 (there has been someone here from out of town every one of those more than twelve days of Christmas), the amazing presents given and gotten, the meals that would make you salivate, and the many and spectacular laughs and moments of love we have all shared (including my fantastically high score on the Tina Turner "Rollin' on the River" selection from Wii Just Dance).  Instead, I'm going to tell you about my trip to the Burleson County sod farm.

Actually, it's a turf farm.



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Which means there are acres upon acres of stuff you might find on your front lawn, at your football stadium, or at your favorite links.

And no, I wasn't so hard up for some peace and quiet that I drove the more than several miles to get away from the holiday happenings around the house.

The drought has almost dried up the watering tanks at the sod farm--leaving the fish more than marginally exposed.  The usual bird gluttons have shown up in high numbers to take advantage of the easy pickings.  They are a raucous and boisterous crowd, fighting over the spoils of drought.

There are also a pair of adult bald eagles and their extended family living at the sod farm.

They delighted us by moving off their perches in the the far tree line and swooping and gliding over us.  Zooming in.  Fading out.  Circling directly over out heads.  Doing moves that the Blue Angels only dream of.  Showing us why they were chosen as the American bird, despite Benjamin Franklin's considerable lobbying on behalf of the turkey.   In all, the eagle spectacle rivaled the Melbourne New Year's fire works--not as loud and not as colorful, but much more inspiring.

I didn't have a camera, not that my skills could have done them justice.  Here is sort of what they looked like as they perched.



And, what impressed me the most was how their enormous wings worked and what they looked like from underneath.  Again, not my photo, but one I wished I took, since this is the way they looked from underneath:


Is spotting a bald eagle the wildlife equivalent of finding a four leaf clover?


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