The View from Here

One Strange Fish: Further Proof

I was talking on the phone to my son yesterday and happened to be sitting in front of the aquarium so I told him about my strange little fish.

I have to give you a little background information first.

I bought six fish from Walmart a few months ago because my big fish died and the tank was left with only two small Mollies. I bought some more mollies and a couple of platies. I now have fifteen fish in the tank- three sets of babies of various sizes! Yes, we have a very entertaining fish nursery and apparently will have more babies soon. I think that I mentioned setting up my other tank and transferring some babies to it.

Okay…back to strange fish. Out of all the little fish swimming around ONE chooses to “sit” on the leaf of one of the artificial plants. He is there most of the time. He will move if another fish swims near, or if I walk too close to the tank, but he will immediately return. He apparently doesn’t sleep there because when I turn on the light in the morning he isn’t there. He resumes his position a few minutes after eating breakfast. The other babies hide in the plants, and even rest on them for brief seconds occasionally. He is the only one who has staked his claim on a specific leaf and returns to it again and again. Strange but true.

And to me it is yet another example that even in nature, in a group of animals we think of as “low” on the intelligence scale, there are differences in instinctive and/or perhaps learned behavior.

Just to throw out one more quick example: five raccoons routinely eat in our yard each night. ONE literally stands out from the rest because he/she eats standing up. The others walk around nibbling food and looking for more. But one picks up a piece of dog food, stands, looks around, then eats. Scouting danger for the others? No…because he/she does it even when the others are not around.

Yes, I spend a LOT of my time thinking about the behavior of children and animals.

If this seems like a strange post I make no apologies. You should have already concluded by now that I am strange!

 

Apples and Oranges, Peaches and Pears...

Most people are quite familiar with the concept of factory production. Let’s use muffins as an example.

Blueberries + batter= muffins. Easy…piece of cake! Factories turn out thousands of muffins, millions of muffins.

Of course the blueberries must be uniform in size. The batter must be mixed to exact specifications. The mix must be put into little forms and baked just the right amount of time. But it can be done. And it can be done just as well by one factory as another, providing they use the same blueberries and the same batter recipe. It can be done in Ohio just as well as in Florida. And it can be done year after year with the same results.

There are people in Washington, D.C., in Oklahoma City, and perhaps in your home town who think we can do the same thing with children.

Child + teaching= graduate. Easy…piece of cake! Schools turn out thousands of graduates, millions of graduates.

Only one minor problem with that otherwise perfect theory. It’s baloney. That’s a scientific term imparted by my grandmother that means it might look like meat, and it might taste good, but it’s still a cheap imitation of what you really want…which is steak.

Let’s be honest for once and admit that our goal in education is a college graduate with a PhD in something that will employ him and reward him for the rest of his life. He will be a productive member of society, contribute something worthwhile to the world, and in the meantime not cause us any trouble (crime, welfare, mental illness, etc.) doing it. He will also be kind, honest, hard-working, sociable, and perhaps even creative and entertaining- all because he is a product of a great education!  

So that’s the steak. Let’s go back to the bologna for a minute. Or maybe we should return to those lovely blueberries.

Blueberries are the perfect little factory fruit. Uniform size, flavor, color, taste. Thanks to modern farming and harvesting you hardly ever see blueberries that don’t look just like their brothers and sisters and cousins and friends. But even if they are too big or too little to go to the muffin factory they can still be used for juice or jam.

You just can’t make children fit that same scenario. They aren’t blueberries; they’re more like apples and oranges, peaches and pears. All fruits. All from trees. All basically round. But oh, my! The differences after that….

 Yesterday I sat down with the results from our recent DIBELS testing. That’s Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Learning Skills for those of you not in education. It’s a “set of assessments used for universal screening and progress monitoring in grades K-6. They are standardized, efficient, and extensively researched. They help educators identify students who may need additional literacy instruction in order to become proficient readers.” I would agree. And other than the three major problems I have with DIBELS, I’m perfectly agreeable to using the results to assess the reading progress of my students. After all, if the whole K-6 is taking the same test, then regardless of its flaws, the results provide some useful comparisons.

Well, here’s a useful comparison for my class: there is a 190 point difference between my lowest and highest students. I’ll just wait a few minutes while that sinks in and you think about the implications of those results.

Yes…

Everyone has been in my room for about 100 days. (Other than the recent flu epidemic we have had 100% attendance most days.)

I have only been absent a couple of days, so all of my students have had the same teacher.

I’ve been teaching in public school for thirteen years and in pre-K before that for about ten years. I kinda know what I’m doing.

We have a great curriculum, plenty of supplies, resources, experts in special education, and a good administration.

So why don’t I have more consistent test results? Why can’t I produce a more uniform product?

Apples and oranges my friends.

I spent twelve years participating in physical education. I learned to run, skip, hop, climb a rope, and jump over a sand pit. I learned to play volleyball, tennis, basketball, and softball.  I even took swimming lessons sponsored by our school. But I never became an athlete. The best program and the best coach in the world could not have made me into an athlete!

But I could read long before I graduated from kindergarten. Reading was easy for me. It was magical. It was exciting. I knew that reading was the key to entertainment and enlightenment. And I could never understand why my classmates struggled with something so simple.

Now, as a teacher I have to figure out why some of my students struggle with something their peers find so simple. I have to find a way to intervene and provide them with additional instruction, individual tutoring, or a different approach that might help them become “proficient” readers. But I know that despite my best efforts some simply won’t be able to do that, any more than I could become an athlete.

But don’t think I’ll ever stop trying. I know that some of the students in the middle and even at the bottom of that curve will become “sufficient” readers and good students and eventually graduate because of attitude, motivation, hard work, and determination. Some of the most gifted students will become dropouts. Yet another flaw in the product theory. There are so many emotional, cultural, and environmental differences in students as to make the possible variables beyond calculation.

Apples and oranges, peaches and pears… 

Searching for the truth...

Looking for dead people can be a thankless task. People sometimes think I’m crazy for giving the past so much attention. Who cares when or how someone died? Well…it turns out that family members, friends, and even old neighbors and classmates do. So I do the best I can to help them find out the truth about their ancestors.

That often leads to surprises that people might not want to know.

I have found “widows” who were really divorced; proof that people committed suicide or were in insane asylums when they died; and court cases of adultery, murder, robbery, rape, etc. that were previously unknown by family members.  I try to provide them with the facts without making comments or judgments.

But another thing that I do is try to set the record straight. It has been my experience in doing this for twenty+ years that many family stories are simply that- family stories. So when I find an obituary in the paper that has not been requested by a particular family member, I go to Ancestry or a couple of other sites to see if there are family members there with trees or with requests that match the information I have. Then I send it to the family. This week I found a wonderful example of family story vs. facts!!!!  

There were twin boys in the county that died within weeks of each other. The paper reported their illness, then the death of one from pneumonia, then the death of the other. It even mentioned their teacher, and that he had given the eulogy. The “family story” was that they were shot by cattle rustlers, one died instantly and the other was wounded and died later! How that came about I will never know. But, I checked the names, dates, and location so I knew I had the right boys. And I sent the facts. What the family does with them is their business.  

Out to the Garden

We had ten minutes of sunshine yesterday so I quickly went outside to take a tour of the garden. Yes, I could have done it when it was cloudy and gloomy. I could have even walked in drizzle. But I’m a sunshine kind of gal and a bit lazy on Sunday afternoons. What can I say?

A tour and inventory of the garden proved to be just what I needed. I know that we have a month of winter weather still ahead of us, but seeing little daffodil sprouts breaking through the soil warmed my heart and gave me some much needed encouragement. Then to add to my anticipation of spring there were actually a couple of little wildflowers blooming in the cutting garden. There were even insects out and about! So ready…

I am reading “Don’t Eat This Book” by Morgan Spurlock, the man who nearly ruined his health by eating nothing but McD food for a month. You may recall that the result of his experiment was “Super Size Me”. This book, about fast food and increasing portion sizes, is mildly interesting, but of course doesn’t reveal any secrets about our obsessions, at least not for me. I have read a lot about fast food and since becoming a pescetarian I don’t go to any of the usual fast food restaurants. When we eat out we typically eat at a Mexican restaurant or Chinese buffet so I can eat spinach, bean or fish dishes. I know that neither is really a good choice because of salt, but we only eat out an average of once every three or four months, so I don’t worry a lot about it.

What did get my attention in the book, and the reason I mention it here in a gardening post, is Mr. Spurlock’s comments about the national decline in physical activity. We have all become more sedentary thanks to technology. As I read some of his facts and figures yesterday it occurred to me that in the past few years I have done less and less daily gardening and have opted instead for weekend gardening, or in the summer a few days each week. One reason for the change is definitely the much smaller yard that we now have, but another reason is my increased research and writing time. And yes, to be honest, thirty minutes a day on FB!

So I have vowed to be out in the garden a little more this year, even if I am only outside admiring it. However, the best plan would be to do some trimming and weeding each day. Then I will have a healthier body AND a healthier garden!! So ready….

Training a Child

I have lately been revisiting what I have always felt is one of the most confusing and frustrating verses in the Bible: Proverbs 22:6. We’ve all read it and memorized and at times have found both aggravation and solace in its simple yet profound message.

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

When I was a young parent I clung to that verse as a promise that my attempts to train and discipline my children would someday be rewarded with their compliance. When my children were teenagers I felt guilty each time I read that same verse. Surely I had failed miserably to train them in the way they should go, because they were totally ignoring at least half the things I thought I had taught them, and they certainly weren’t following a path I would have chosen for them. Now that they are adults I am still baffled by some of the things they do, not because their actions are necessarily bad, but just because their path is so different from their upbringing that I wonder how they found it.

I’m positive that my own parents felt the same way.

And the parents of my students often share similar concerns with me.

Which brings me to some questions about that verse:

How much training? The Bible admonishes us to teach our children daily, constantly. Does anything less constitute failure? Is it enough to talk and guide and be a role model? Or must the training be much more formal? Does it apply to daily life skills or only Biblical truths?

How old does a child have to be to return to the training of his childhood? I seem to recall a few people in the Bible who were trained in godly ways but were certainly disobedient adults. My young adult children are not attending the church of their childhood or practicing many of the things they were taught as children.  Do they have to be really old to return to the ways of their childhood training? 50, 60, 70? I don’t attend the church I was raised in. I don’t believe some of the things I was taught as a child. Will I finally change my mind when I’m 80?

How about all those years in between child and old? Some groups, such as the Amish, actually expect their youth to “go wild” for a time- they call it Rumspringa.  Others such as the Mormons, try to control their youth with a highly structured culture and service expectations. The Jews have a formal ceremony (Bar or Bat Mitzvah) signifying a child’s maturity and responsibility for their own actions. Christianity seems to adopt a bit of each- we want our teens to behave well in every situation, but we know from the experience of our own teen years that it is unlikely that they will. We try to give them other things to do besides get into trouble, but we know they can serve the Lord on Sunday and be in serious trouble with their peers on Tuesday. We let them be children for as long as possible, but tend to hold them accountable for their actions once they start driving and aren’t under our scrutiny all the time.

Perhaps we are all taking the verse too literally. It becomes a troubling conundrum if we think of ourselves as trainers. My own life has been more of a roller coaster than a path. How can I expect my children to follow my training when I’m not sure I followed my parents’ training? People have been going astray for generations. And their parents probably puzzled over this verse for the same reasons we do. When I find myself totally at a loss I file my confusion under “things too wonderful for me”. I remind myself that my mind is small and my knowledge limited. And I re-read Psalms 139:1-6.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
² You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
³ You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
⁵ You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

Coffee- No More Guilt!

Hi, my name is Mary. I’m a coffee addict.

I started drinking when I was ten.

 

It was my grandmother who led me astray.  Of course she put lots of powdery creamer and heaps of sugar in mine, but I soon learned it was the taste of the black stuff that I craved. Now I drink three to four cups per day, without anything else in my cup. But in my own defense I once drank ten cups per day, so at least I am finally drinking in moderation.

And this month an article in the February issue of Prevention magazine lists coffee as one of the “4 Foods for a Longer Life”!!! WhooHoo!!! My grandmother lived to be 92, so who I am I to argue with the facts? Turns out that coffee is “packed with polyphenols” and we all know how great they are, right? Okay, so I had to Google to remind us! This is borrowed from Natural News.

Polyphenols have recently been termed "lifespan essentials". They work in the body to enhance health in complex ways, and they do more than scavenge free radicals. Their specific heath benefits are being actively researched. So far it is known that polypheonols work to protect the systems of the body from chronic diseases, particularly heart disease and cancer.

To attain or preserve optimal health, foods containing polyphenols should be eaten daily, as these compounds are only active in the body for a short period of time. Blood levels of polyphenols will peak soon after they are consumed, and then decrease as they are metabolized or excreted from the body. Some polyphenols are not even absorbed into the bloodstream at all, but merely pass through the digestive tract, protecting against colon cancer.

Polyphenols are found in unprocessed fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. They tend not to be destroyed by moderate cooking or heating, and cooked foods may offer a more bioavilable source of some polyphenols. To a large degree, polyphenols are why it is so important to eat a plant based diet.

And this from a Canadian site called Coffee and Health:

According to recent studies, coffee has four times the antioxidant content of green tea. The amount of antioxidants in coffee also surpasses that of cocoa, other herbal teas and red wine, and even fruit and fresh vegetables. There are approximately 1,000 antioxidants in green coffee beans and brewing these beans adds an additional 300. 

The antioxidants in coffee are in the form of polyphenols, a substance also found in a variety of plants. Polyphenols are seen by some to be even more significant than vitamins C and E in terms of disease preventative properties. Research has indicated that coffee provides about 1,300 mg of polyphenal antioxidants daily Studies also indicate that the level of antioxidants is similar in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee.

Yes, caffeine IS an issue for some people. In case you are curious, it is the taste of coffee that I crave and I enjoy a variety of different blends. I have gone as long as a year drinking decaffeinated coffee. I returned to the real thing because it is often cheaper and tastes better. The one I drink now is in the mid-range for caffeine. And I don’t drink soda of any kind, so the only other caffeine I get is from tea and chocolate. Check your brand online. They vary from around 50mg to 175mg. There is even one called “Death Wish” and I don’t think we want to know how much caffeine it contains.

One more tip. Studies of tea drinkers show that the casein found in milk counteracts antioxidants, so you may not want to add milk or cream to your coffee either.

So…no more guilt about coffee. Drink up and enjoy! I will!

Please Help Save Our Museum

I promised you that I would climb on my soapbox at some point. Today is the day. And if I step on toes or insult your relatives or make you feel guilty that is not my intention. My intention is to call on the best brains I know to help solve a serious problem.

I ask you as a friend, family member, history lover, or even casual blog reader to please read all of this. I am posting it on both of my blogs this morning because I think it is that important. If you are a Caddo resident or former Caddo resident you need to read it carefully because I believe this problem is not only serious, but indicative of several problems affecting the future sustainability of our community.

I will start with a quote from Erma Taylor, known, loved and yes, feared, by many of us. I knew her as a music teacher, friend, Sunday school teacher, and boss. She was kind and generous, but also outspoken in her beliefs. She worked for years on many projects which benefitted Caddo citizens. This is from her history of Caddo:

 “Caddo is a quiet town with her own private problems.  She may not big in numbers, but is big in heart, as has been proven over the years when the deep needs of many people have been met by the kindness and generosity of her citizens.”

 

I pray that she is correct.

The Indian Territory Museum has had financial and employee problems for years. It was first managed privately and now is owned by the city. And the city is apparently tired of its problems. It is seeking to find a person or group to manage it or close its doors.

The museum must not close! It is a public trust. It is a valuable part of our community. It is a testament to the fascinating history of our community. It is a source of documents and photos that are precious to genealogists and those seeking their Indian heritage. And if managed properly it could be a valuable asset for our future. Small museums in other communities have become popular tourist attractions. Tourists bring in money that is spent on gas, refreshments, lodging, and souvenirs. Other communities seem to realize that the population of the entire country is aging and many baby boomers are interested in their family’s history. Also, the interest in “cowboys and Indians” has never waned and is a draw for many other museums.

One statement in that previous paragraph is the root of the problem. The museum has not been managed properly for several years. And interest in it has declined as a result. There have been legitimate complaints about the hours and days that it is open, as well as the fact that the people managing it know very little about Caddo’s history. The museum is not “user friendly” and has very little information posted that clearly traces and explains Caddo’s beginnings. Questions are then asked, but not answered.

Caddo’s museum was the dream of Beulah Markham. She worked tirelessly to promote it and to gather artifacts for it. Many others in the community gathered together to make it a reality:

The Bryan County Star

July 1, 1976

Plans for Caddo Museum Continuing

Caddo Bicentennial committee met Thursday, June 24, at 7:30 in the high school library.

Mrs. Erma Taylor presided, and asked Representative Guy Davis to discuss house bill 1745, which provided some help in financing the purchase of a building for preservation of items pertinent to Caddo history.

Mr. Davis gave tips on the formation of a Historical Society. He offered to ask a member of the State Historical Society to meet with citizens of Caddo and explain formation of a historical society.

Billy Miller was elected to choose two other members to help him search for a building to purchase for the Society. Bill Ammons and Ben Karnes have been chosen to aid Mr. Miller.

 

December 29, 1977

Caddo Museum

Caddo I.T. Museum and Library will very soon be a reality. The open house will probably be some day in January.

All citizens are encouraged to give artifacts to the museum. The library can also use books, magazine subscriptions, etc.

Watch for the official opening date and everyone is encouraged to come by. The museum is already being visited by many guests. Janet Jenkins

 

The museum was intended to be vital and changing and expanding. Mrs. Markham sought out new items and exhibits. She talked to people and engaged their interest in our town. Other curators followed in her footsteps…for a while. Now the museum is more of a storage warehouse. But that can change.

I am not in the museum business. I am not an authority or even very knowledgeable in this area. But someone out there is or could be. So I am offering some suggestions based on my limited experiences in our museum, other museums, and online. It is my hope that YOU will be interested enough to talk to your friends, pass this on to someone you know in Caddo, talk to a city council member you know, talk to members of your church or community organization, attend the next city council meeting, and help find a solution to this problem.

1. The museum should be managed by a governing board of five to seven people, in cooperation with the city.
2. Expenses should be managed by the city. Donations should be solicited by the board and there should be regular fund raising activities. The city should also apply for grants to maintain and improve the museum. Citizens might even be willing to have $1 added to their water bill for support of the museum. Creative thinkers find creative solutions to problems.
3. A specific and professional job description should be written for the curator position and if the current one does not meet the criteria she should be given a “grace period” for either compliance or termination.
4. For the safety of the staff and the security of the artifacts the museum should have one paid and one volunteer worker on duty each day. The museum board should recruit at least ten to fifteen volunteers to commit to two days of service per month. More is always better in order to be prepared for illness and absences.
5. The hours of the museum should be more accommodating for tourists, especially in the summer. It should be open from 9am to 3pm. The museum should not be closed during the lunch hour and the two staff members should alternate lunch breaks. The days that the museum is open should be at least Tuesday through Saturday.
6. The museum should have signs that briefly explain more of the displays and highlights of Caddo’s history. A tourist should leave with at least a basic idea of why Caddo exists.
7. There is plenty of reading material available on Caddo’s history and those who work at the museum should be required to read at least some of it or be familiar enough with it to look up the answer to a tourist’s question. “I’m not from here” is not an appropriate response.
8. The museum board should seek out support, training, and advertisement through sources such as the  Oklahoma Museums Association and Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department.

I have made suggestions in the past, but they have fallen on ears that have not agreed with my belief in the value of the museum.  

No, I do not wish to be on the board. I do not have the time to give such a position the time and effort it would deserve. But there are MANY retired people in our community who could do so. There are many citizens who are employed part-time who could add this to their life. I would be willing to help with some of the writing required for advertising or for grants. I would be willing to provide any historical information needed by the board. I would be willing to help with fund raising events.

I have spent the past twenty years researching and promoting Caddo. Many of the websites that mention the museum link back to the website I created and maintain for TRAC. Many of the people who have sought my help with genealogy have later visited Caddo in person and stopped at the museum. Some have been happy with it; others have been disappointed. Some didn’t get to see it at all because it was closed.

I’m counting on YOU to help solve this problem.

“Caddo is a quiet town with her own private problems.  She may not big in numbers, but is big in heart, as has been proven over the years when the deep needs of many people have been met by the kindness and generosity of her citizens.”

 

Just happy to be here...

Not much to say today.

Just grateful to be well.

Thankful for my blessings.

Sometimes I think about how different my life is from what I once envisioned. Well, I suppose a better word choice would be “feared”. As a young adult I was filled with doubts and worries. I suppose some of that is simply a part of that phase of life. The early years of marriage, parenthood, and employment are all so stressful. Throw in a few serious problems, a tragedy or two, a financial crisis here and there, and it is easy to fall into the black hole of self-pity and despair. Some people never find their way back out. Thanks to my family and friends and the Lord, I did.

So I am grateful for this phase of life when I feel that I can face whatever happens next. I think the difference between now and my past is that I’ve learned two major lessons: 1. No matter what the situation or problem, if I am still alive there is hope. 2. I am not alone.

It takes a while to find your stride in life. However slow and stumbling, I think I have found mine. 

Failure

Two people mentioned to me this week that they "feel like a failure". I know that neither is a failure at all; they are merely going through a time of frustration and doubt. I have found from experience that those who express the opinion that they are failures seldom are, while those who truly fail to meet even the basic expectations of society seem either unaware of or reconciled to their condition.

Women are the most prone to express feelings of failure because we tend to expect far too much from ourselves in far too many areas of life. I had a love/hate relationship with all those “superwoman” ads presented to us when I was a young wife and mother. We could do it all if we just tried! We could work all day, shop, cook, take care of our children, and satisfy our man…all while looking like a model. Yeah right…if exhaustion, or insanity, didn’t overtake us first!

We like to think that times have changed and we are more reasonable about setting goals for ourselves and more rational about the things we can actually accomplish in one lifetime.  But are we? From what I have observed…no. Women still expect to achieve success in nearly every endeavor. There is nothing wrong with that, but I think we forget to give ourselves credit for trying, for working, for just having goals and expectations. We focus far too much on the end product and not on the process itself. I bow to the wisdom of Teddy Roosevelt to encourage you to be kinder to yourself when you do not succeed.

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions; spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”  

Amen Mr. Roosevelt!

And BTW I give God credit for giving me that quote. I did not seek it out. I didn’t even know it existed. I had this post on my mind and when I started to copy a news item from the 1925 Caddo Herald for my Caddo blog I noticed the quote in the next column! The Lord works in mysterious ways. 

Why did the heron cross the road?

Each time we visit Hagerman Wildlife Refuge we have a different experience. Yesterday was no exception. We began our visit by spotting our favorite wild critter, our son. He was just on his way out of the refuge when he noticed our vehicle. We chatted a bit and then went our separate ways since he will be visiting here with us later today.

There were more visitors yesterday than we’ve seen in quite some time, perhaps because of the recent news reports about Hagerman, or maybe just because it was such a nice day. I have to take a moment to complain just a little about the rude or just ignorant behavior of some visitors. They drive far too fast, pass other cars quickly, and often overlook the fact that if a car is stopped it is probably because the occupants are trying to observe or photograph a bird. A little polite distance and understanding would be appreciated! If you aren’t in the refuge to do the same then why are you there?

That being said yesterday was still a great day! While most of the visitors were off viewing the enormous flocks of geese we were wandering around in search of new birds that might be attracted by the increase in water. Some of the marsh areas that were previously dry now have a few precious inches of water.

We did see lots of new ducks, although many were so hidden by the marsh grasses that I was unable to photograph them. Still so happy to just see them! And I took a few photos that are not great, but suitable for identification purposes. Also spotted an American Kestrel, a heron hiding in the grass, and a group of pretty pintails.

However, it wasn’t until we started to leave the park that we had the best encounter of the day. I saw a heron sitting off to the left of the road by the bridge and asked Gary to stop. He doesn’t often see the same birds since he is busy staying on the road and he can’t stop quickly on a gravel road, so by the time he had done so the heron had flown out of camera range. But then the heron did the totally unexpected! He flew over the bridge, landed on the left side of the road, and then walked in front of us! I took a couple of shots through our very dirty windshield just to record it, thinking at the time that he would soon fly off. No….he stopped at the side of the road, posed for a while, walked in to the grass, posed some more, and then flew away. The whole time Gary was inching the truck closer and closer. Another car even passed us. Nothing seemed to phase the heron’s calm walk through the grass.

If that wasn’t wonderful enough, in the last big tree before the exit there was a hawk watching the ground intently. I alerted Gary soon enough for him to approach ever so slowly, but apparently that wasn’t necessary. The hawk stayed in the tree long enough for me to take a dozen photos. Then I whistled and made a little noise in hopes that he would leave so I could get a few shots of him in flight. Didn’t move! He continued to watch the ground for several minutes and when he did finally swoop down I barely managed one blurry shot. They are fast!! He must have missed whatever he was after because he flew to a nearby stump, Gary backed up the truck, and I got a few more photos.

When we finally left we talked about how often we have had a great visit to the refuge despite the drought or weather conditions. Even on a day when nothing out of the ordinary seems to be happening the unexpected can make you so grateful that you took the time to drive through.

Why did the heron cross the road? I have no clue…but I’m so glad he did!