I had completed my forced labor and was allowed a few minutes to myself to rest and regain my strength. I had chosen to have a cup of coffee and an oatmeal cookie, as I sat in the rocker on the front porch. I am led to believe, that a cup of coffee after a severe workout, has some of the same positive effects on the body, as an aspirin. Something to do with the caffeine.
Before that one annoying person asks, yes, we have more than one rocker outside The Ford Homestead.
Back to my wonderful account, I was on the front porch in the 91 degree heat drinking hot coffee, with a cookie, maybe two. The wind was blowing which made it fairly comfortable. I did have my tablet with me upon which I was playing solitaire and listening to 60s music, from XM radio (through the tablet).
As I sat there enjoying my rest period, I would occasionally look up. There is a bird house on the porch and a sparrow has its nest in it. The sparrow would fly away and return with some food for the babies. I am not sure how many babies there are in the nest, but I know there are at least two, as I have seen two at the bird house door, with their beaks wide open, waiting for one of the parents to deposit some food.
I didn’t need to look to see if the parent was there with food, as the babies would get quiet when the parent was gone, and would start making noise when he / she returned.
The baby birds would be the beginning, from the title of this well written article.
I had lost all but one of the solitaire games when I decided to stop playing. I had shut the tablet off and was sitting there observing the neighborhood. It was a clear day with hardly a cloud in the sky. I had noticed how nice the green from the trees looked, against the clear blue sky. As I looked across the street, a fast moving bird caught my eye. It was a Red Tail Hawk, which came across the top of a neighbor’s tree, pulled its wings in, and suddenly, dropped out of the sky.
Its target was a black bird that was on the ground, looking through the grass for bugs. The Red Tailed Hawk was maybe twice the size of his target.
I have seen Red Tail Hawks eating birds many times, but this was the first time I have seen one kill a bird.
The death was not quick and I will not go into that part of the observation. Let’s just say there was a bunch of black feathers on the ground. That would be, the End, from this story title.
From the front porch of The Ford Homestead, we have seen the beginning of life, and the end of life. Those two actions brought to mind a story that I have been working on for some time. My story is titled, “It was The End, and The Beginning”.
I will attach a few photos taken recently, of flowers on The Fords Homestead.
Colorful flowers from the back 40.
May your day be filled with flowers!
Don Ford
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