Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Fight or Flight

After several hours of Googling coding freebies then typing then re-coding the re-re-coding and banging my head on the keyboard, the latter often resulting in better work than whenred-hawk-distant-uncool-dad using these mitts of concrete at the end of my arms, I stood up and sighed.

Walk it off, clear your head, I yelled at myself internally because doing so aloud when you work by yourself is just loony.

I pushed back my chair and stood with a creak-creak here and a Mother-Fletcher-I’m-old there.

I looked out the sliding glass door, lost.

That’s when I saw him.

Beyond the pergola beams, up in the branches.

A red-tailed hawk.

red-hawk-stare We have two of them that frequently circle our neighborhood. Beautiful, ancient predators that always make me gaze in awe at their grace and skill.

They perch and observe, constantly planning and calculating as they scour the yards and roadways for the weak, the slow, the indecisive.

Then they swoop in and kill. No mercy.

He swiveled his noble head and stared.

red-hawk-uncool-dad

Right. At. Me.

red-hawk-speaks-2-uncoolAnd here we are.

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22 comments:

  1. We have one of those birds visit every once in a while. I've never been able to get a good shot of him, though, so good job! Now, get back to work!

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  2. We have all kinds of wildlife here. But sadly, all we've had lately are turkeys.

    Fourteen of them.

    BIG turkeys.

    Multiple times a day.

    Can you say, dinner?

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    Replies
    1. We have some wild turkeys here and a couple family of foxes along with the usual herds of deer eating ever FRICKIN' THING IN SIGHT!

      Mmmm, Wild Turkey. I need some ice and a glass now.

      Delete
  3. Nice shots, Kevin.

    Where did you come up with that crazy idea that yelling at yourself out loud when you're alone was somehow wrong?

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    Replies
    1. The voices in my head told me so.

      Thanks, little Mrs. Shutterbug.

      Delete
  4. You got a great picture of the hawk. My favorite part of your post though, was when you said the following, "I pushed back my chair and stood with a creak-creak here and a Mother-Fletcher-I’m-old there." I can't stop laughing about that because I have the same problem. It's nice to know I'm not the only one complaining when I stand up!

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    Replies
    1. Middle age is no friend to the middle aged, that's for sure.

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  5. Ignore the predator birds at your peril...glad to see that you did not! Maybe it knows the crows that seem to circle my house, I can feel them staring...

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    Replies
    1. Still better then vultures. They mean something is already dead.

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  6. Hawks are so cool! I'm glad you listened to him. :)

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    Replies
    1. As if I had a choice in the matter. Well ... maybe in what I would have been stuffed with before he made me dinner.

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  7. Cool. We seem to have one (two?) living in a hemlock right off our back deck. I wouldn't mind if they pick off some of the squirrels...

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    Replies
    1. Seriously. I wish I could import a dozen red tails for our yard.

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  8. Whenever the birds talk to me, all they say is "never more." It pisses me off.

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  9. Ummm, where's the Spring Robin? Ornithology Hunger Games?

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  10. We have tons of red tailed hawks around here. You should seen a lot of them when you were in Bastrop last week.
    I hope you had a good time and that everyone treated you well.

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    Replies
    1. Only if the hawk had umbrellas. It poured for the 3 days were in Austin.

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