My Fine Furry And Feathered Friends

Day 176 (Written Tuesday June 5) ~ Today I walked around the farm a little bit and was reminded of some of the things that I am missing since being gone. During our ten years on the farm I had gotten used to seeing an array of critters that entertained me. One of them was the large blue herron that enjoyed perching on our rock wall and fishing in our creek. I always thought he was so majestic standing on one leg for long periods of time remaining perfectly still. However, he scared the mess out of me on more than one occasion when I would walk out the back door in the mornings to go to work, only to have him take flight about twenty feet from me. If you’ve ever heard the loud “whoop, whoop” sound their wings make as they lift off, you know what I mean. Then there were the turkeys, to whom our back pasture was apparently a singles bar. I have seen over three dozen back there at one time. In early spring (March and April) we would leave our windows up all the time and when I got up in the mornings I could hear them gobbling on the back ridge. I would usually stand there in the morning when I got up and watch them strut across the pasture. A few times they even came up as close as the sidewalk at my front porch. Turkeys are one of my absolutely most favorite animals in the world (mainly because they remind me of teenage boys, but that is another post for another day). Another favorite of mine is the big, fat groundhog who sat by the side of the road every couple of weeks. I would laugh every single time I saw him. He would just be sitting up on his hind legs, chewing on some grass and watching the cars go by in the morning. He always looked so chill and it cracked me up. He may have been the coolest animal I’ve ever seen. I always imagined that he was taunting everyone by saying, “Enjoy work today humans. I’ll just be kickin’ it by the road, eatin’ me some food.” You don’t have to say it, I know, I’ve got issues, too much time on my hands and a way too active imagination. Hands down, my favorite of them all was Huey P. Long. This was the name I gave to the Kingfisher who perched on the power line at the end of my driveway virtually every day. For those of you who aren’t Louisiana history buffs, Huey P. Long was the governor of Louisiana in the 1930’s who’s slogan was “A chicken in every pot and every man a king.” He was probably very corrupt (aren’t all Louisiana politicians?), but he was also very adept and getting things done (read about how he got LSU’s football stadium expanded and roads built all over rural Louisiana). His nickname was, the Kingfisher. He is without a doubt my favorite historical politician (what? doesn’t everyone have a favorite historical politician?) and so I named my favorite bird in his honor. I saw this bird almost everyday of my life for nearly ten years. Perhaps it was actually children of the original Huey P. Long bird that I saw year after year (I don’t know the life span of Kingfishers), but I could count on that bird being there each day and he rarely disappointed. Perhaps I should note that since returning, I have yet to see him. Actually I haven’t see any of them. I wonder if they have been thinking the same thing about me?