The Axis of Eagle, and The Big Dig

Okay, sorry for the pun but I couldn't resist. Being at home sick with the election process burrowing into my brain like hormonal wood tick has gotten to me. But there were axis, and eagles and a dig site the size of the neighborhood HEB. And so goes the weekend.

I'm still sick as a dog (I coughed and blew my nose so hard this week the doc says I actually blew a hole in each of my ear drums--now when I blow my nose, I hear this horrible whistling noise), but, I got some good writing done and managed to get out of the house after being in bed for a week and a half to go feed the cattle and see what the dredger did on the lake property. The calves are big and getting bigger, but still so cute, and Opa got 12 more calves, so a big time all the way around. R loaded up the feeders. I helped, of course, by cheering him on and playing with the calves. It's tough work, but somebody's gotta do it.

Next, we dropped by for a visit with the eagles. They were there together, steadfast, protecting their nest like a sweet old married couple. A whole group of people were lined up by the road, chatting and making friends over wildlife. I can't help but think there's a metaphor in there somewhere, but I'm sick. I'll look for it later.

Later, at the property we saw Canadian Geese that had migrated down from the land of Universal Healthcare and affordable medicine. As an aside, geese, like Bald Eagles, also pair for life. I'm sensing a theme lately . . .

Later, we saw the biggest Axis deer I've ever seen. Like the Canadian Geese, the Axis don't really belong here, but are here on a work visa to entertain the likes of us. His horns were at least three feet long! When we first saw him, he was on his hind legs knocking down branches to eat the leaves. It was an amazing sight.

The only bump in the weekend was the job the dredger did. I was really disappointed to see the progress on the digging out the mud, muck and flotsam that stormed into the cove during the flooding last summer. The water raged down the canyon so hard it rammed a slab of concrete that was bigger than a Prius into the middle of the cove and sat it up on it's edge like Stone Henge. I guess we should be thankful it's not submerged where someone could hit it. Or dive on top of it.

The only disappointing thing (but it was a BIG disappointment) this weekend was that the dredger guy shoved all that dirt up toward the island, so instead of the channel being deeper, it's actually more shallow. I'm so disheartened, and I just want to send him the page in Websters that says, "Dredge: shipping transitive and intransitive verb to clear, deepen, or widen a waterway, especially one intended for shipping, using a dredge."

I really want to growl, "What were you thinking?" and "We want our money back." *sheesh* So, next weekend, we're getting out the shovels. I'll bring the beer if you'll bring the backhoe . . .

So, back to the digital grindstone tomorrow. I've been off for almost 14 days, but being laid out with a cold doesn't seem like much of a rest . ..