Flying high

It’s a flurry of activity around here!

The builders finished putting up the trusses. We got two big deliveries – the steel for the roof and the insulation. The electricians who are wiring the building (and doing the rest of the utility work, like putting in the water lines, the cattle waterers, and the hot water heater) were here digging the trenches where the water lines will be. The electric company that we pay for power called and said that after we mount the box on our building they can start hooking everything up.

I saw a lot of my mom and dad’s house being built. I was really happy for them and I loved seeing how everything came together. But my goodness! Your own building?! I love seeing it happen! I imagine this is a mere percentage of the excitement Kris feels, since he’s the one who did the actual planning.

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It was warm and sunny. I got to run outside and I’ve never been sadder I didn’t have a camera with me. Along the creek I saw a turkey vulture (also called turkey buzzard) perched on top of a post. I was really close to it. Then, it raised its wings – I thought to take off – but it just stayed that way. I noticed a shadow and saw a second turkey vulture perched on an electrical wire. And it also had its wings out! I wished for the camera. They sat that way, with their wings outstretched, for about three minutes until a car came by and they flew away. I thought they may have been soaking up the sun. That’s how I felt, too.

When I came home I read that they sit that way a lot, they think for three reasons – to dry the wings, to warm their body, and to bake off bacteria.

Later on the road I came upon them eating a raccoon that’d been dead for a long time. It didn’t look like there was a lot to eat on it, but they seemed quite interested.

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I picked up the boys from preschool today and there was a wildlife person there showing them a dead badger. All the kids were gathered around it. Many of them were petting it, making its own paws pet it, and feeling its teeth. My sons were watching closely, but not petting it.

I wondered later why they weren’t petting it. My best guess is that we see dead animals all the time. We spend a lot of time going for walks and we see a lot of road kill. We always look at them, but what do I tell them? Don’t touch the dead animals! We don’t always have enough sun to bake off that bacteria.