Rare Birds?

We have had many visitors to our bird feeders this year, probably in part due to the extended drought.  However, the ones that have been the most interesting to us are the ones that don’t come to feeders.  A pair of them have been feeding in our pasture for the last couple of weeks.  They are very striking crested caracaras, and we have so enjoyed watching them forage for bugs, and perhaps mice, among the weeds and grasses.  They aren’t especially rare, but they haven’t visited our place before, so having them around has been a treat.

The caracara is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae.  It is found throughout Central and South America and is common to South Texas.  It looks like a hawk, but behaves like a vulture, feeding on carrion as well as large insects and small animals.  There was no carrion in our pastures, so we assume mice and grasshoppers were the quarry these were hunting.

   

So far, they haven’t come very close to he house, and there is nowhere I can hide to get better images.  These few shots are the best I have, but I’ll be watching to see if there’s an opportunity to get closer ones.

Another “rare” bird that we encountered recently is this wading eastern screech owl.  

John found this bedraggled specimen early one morning standing breast-deep in Rue’s dog swimming pool and called me to ask what to do.  (Since he appeared to be a young bird, we suspect he was one of the two that fledged here several weeks ago.)  Fortunately, Rue had already splashed most of the water out of the pool, so, though thoroughly soaked, he was able to keep his head above water. John pulled him from the water and attempted to place him on a nearby limb, but the poor little fellow was so tired and cold that he couldn’t perch.  So, John placed him on a towel under a laundry basket in the warm sun, and put a large rock on the basket so it wouldn’t blow away.  

Several hours later, when I returned from working dogs, I went to check on our small charge.  I was amazed to find basket in rock in place, but our bird nowhere to be found.  Screech owls are small birds, but who knew this one was small enough to escape through the holes in a laundry basket?!   We looked all around, but haven’t seen him since and assume he warmed up, dried off, and joined his family.  

A Memorable Memorial Day

Sometimes it seems like my life is built around dog trials.  After all, they happen when they happen and I can’t schedule them to fit my schedule.  But whenever possible we show up…Cody, Bo, Dutch and me, and whenever possible, John, Rue, Kota and our RV.  A couple of weeks ago, we had an opportunity for the whole crew to travel.

The occasion was Gary Young’s Open Ranch/Nursery Trial a couple of hours away at his and Kathy’s lovely place near Gordon, TX.  Not only did we want to take Bo and Dutch to compete in the Open Ranch class, we really wanted to take Falcon and the Royals on the road.  Falcon (our Volvo 610 tractor) had just come home from Waco where it had had a new clutch installed.  This would be our maiden voyage with the new clutch.  We were cautiously optimistic that the repairs would solve the problem we had experienced earlier when the truck had intermittently lost power for a few seconds.  

So…..we left Rick and Linda minding the place for a couple of days, loaded up, hooked up, and headed north.  When attending dog trials, we usually park at the trial site, boondocking with fellow competitors and enjoying the company as well as the competition.  This time, though, we were told the entrance to the property was too tight for a rig our size.  We made a reservation 26 miles down Interstate 20 at Horseshoe RV Park in Ranger.  (It wasn’t quite what the pictures on the website promised, but the gravel sites were level and the power was good.)  There were also plenty of wildflowers all around, including many of these beautiful American Basketflowers.

Unfortunately, Ranger is a small town that has seen better days.  The vacant lots, cracked sidewalks and faded downtown mural pretty much say it all.  I hope there are better days in this little town's future. 

The weather cooperated, though, with lovely cool, cloudy days, and the trial field was nice and green.  I was proud of both my boys.  

It was Dutch’s and my first outing at a trial, and both days we got numbers instead of letters, so I was very pleased.  (Thanks to John for the photo above, as well as for taking videos of some of our runs.) Dutch and I are still getting acquainted herding-wise, and sometimes he doesn’t quite understand my whistles, so I was a little apprehensive.  I shouldn’t have worried.  He had two lovely outruns and lifts, and we made it all the way around the course with the sheep.  We even got a pen on the second day.  

I was especially proud of the way Dutch handled the sheep on his first run.  Most of the sheep used were white Dorper ewes and lambs, with a few black heads and spotted ones mixed in.  Dutch, however, drew three of the four (I think) black sheep…two ewes and a lamb.  They were coming down the fetch pretty well, when one of the ewes (White-tail) began calling frantically to her lamb, which was in the exhaust pen some distance beyond the handler’s post.  The lamb was bleating loudly in reply.  

Understanding what was happening, Dutch was covering her escape to the side and I was trying to block her path with my crook.  She wasn’t having any of it, though, and, leaving the other two sheep, bolted for the exhaust pen and her lamb.  Dutch did a masterful job of turning her back…several times, and was finally able to bring her back on course and round the post with all three sheep.  It certainly wasn’t pretty, and we lost a lot of points, but were able to complete the course.  

Bo gave me two very good runs, earning 6th place out of 21 dogs with a score of 66 (out of a possible 90 points) in his first run and 5th place with a 70 in his second.  I was especially proud of his outrun, lift and fetch on his first run.  He brought his sheep to the post with no points off!  We do have work to do on his drives, though.  

Here are some photos from the trial.  All-in-all, it was a great weekend.  Gary and Kathy Young put on a very nice trial (not to mention a scrumptious lunch on Saturday!), and Gary was an excellent judge.  I especially appreciated his constructive comments after our runs.  

Here are a few more photos from the trial.  (Thanks to photographer John Brasseaux for the last four photos below.  He always does an excellent job capturing our dogs.)

John Lewis and Cleo

Charly Kronberger and Cindy Lou Who

Dutch and me attempting a pen

Cody exhausting sheep

...and more sheep

Bo taking it easy after his run

 But that wasn't the end of our adventures.  Sunday afternoon we packed up, loaded up, and were preparing to hook up when the right front leveler on the Royals refused to budge.  We couldn't position the rig properly to hook up, so there we sat.  Of course, these things only seem to happen at the most inconvenient time...in this case on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend!  There wasn't a repair facility open within hundreds of miles.  We worked on the Big Foot leveling system all afternoon, then gave up and declared Happy Hour.  We spent a somewhat uncomfortable night since the RV wasn't level, but at least we didn't roll out of bed.

On Monday morning, John thought he had traced the problem to a bad solenoid.  He prepared to wire around it, in theory bypassing the problem so the system would work.  NOT!  Nothing happened, and we were about to give up and wait another day until we could find an RV mechanic.  I decided to try one last time to free the leveler using the controller, and Thank You, God!  It worked. I don't know if it was divine intervention, but I'm happy to give Him the credit.  We hooked up and headed back home, vowing not to unhook until we were able to take to rig to Waco to our mechanic.  It was a great weekend...just a little longer than we had expected.

On the way home, the roadsides were a brilliant display of red, yellow and purple.  A fitting end to our trip.

Class of '61 Reunion

Friends are a gift, and old friends are a treasure.  Last weekend I was blessed to spend the day with a couple of dozen treasures…members of my Hamilton High School class and their spouses, friends and family members.  My eleven classmates who attended and I lined up for yet another group photo, the first in several years. 

(L-R, Front to Back) LaRuth Hurley Morrow, Michal Jones Bagley, Jane Evetts Cartwright, Robert Reich, Patty Sparks Howarth, Jimmy Don Thompson, Delton Eary, Ivan Gregory (in hat), Jimmy Joe Jacks (in hat), C.W. Strickland, Ronny McDaniel (center rear; he and wife, Reeve Love, came the farthest...from Albuquerque), Dennis Taylor

I believe our graduating class consisted of some 57 members, but we also count as classmates a few very special individuals who shared many of our growing-up years, but who may have graduated elsewhere.  We all form a cohesive group of co-conspirators who proudly call ourselves the “Class of ’61.”  

LaRuth Hurley Morrow and husband Richard hosted us at their lovely “Home Place” outside Pottsville (just a rock’s throw from Hamilton). 

 

It was a day filled with laughter, catching up on each other's news, reminiscing, and missing our classmates who have passed or who could not attend.  Here are more photos from the get-together.  We may have more lines in our faces, but we came together as if the intervening years since graduation did not exist.  

God Willing, there will be another gathering next year and that we'll all be there.