So, this morning, Steve and I were sitting at the kitchen table over our second cups of coffee, talking over the tasks unto the day and enjoying the company of sleepy cats in the sun, when there came a SHRIEK! from outside. All the birds at the bird feeder flew into the air with a great crashing of wings and the SHRIEK! came again, followed by outraged clucking, and we got out on the deck in time to see three turkeys — one standing his ground, one in the air and flying for the apple tree on our neighbor’s land, and the third running through the briars and the brambles for the safety of the back woods.
One of the three lost a feather in the altercation, about 14 inches/37centimeters in length. Here’s a picture:
The guy who had not run or flown off, spent some time walking up and down the road, clucking and calling. My theory is that he lost track of his lady-friend, who was, as far as I know, still in the apple tree. Here’s a picture of the victor, taken from the safety of our deck. You can also see a fallen apple. The apples are the reason the turkey’s particularly like our little piece of Maine. The gore on which our house (and our neighbors’ houses) are situated used to be an apple orchard, and there are old apple trees everywhere.
In other news, Dragon in Exile (the penultimate draft) cracked 90,000 words yesterday. This morning before I start work, the Official Word Count is 91,995. I had a brief moment of frenzy in which I declared I would be free in only 10,000 more words, but I think that’s. . .optimistic. However, the end is in sight.
* * *
Progress on Dragon in Exile: GOOD/Author Satisfied
“Certainly, the philosophical aspects of our situation are piquant,” she said seriously. “We must, the two of us, sit down and discuss them thoroughly, some day soon.”
We see wild turkeys less often than when we moved here–the good local turkey habitat has been chopped up into little “ranchettes” or was taken by the state for a highway project–but we do still see them occasionally, as we have a (dry and dying) patch of woodland that still has some live oaks in it. No apple trees here, but they do like acorns.
Glad you had a sight of them.
Was that an ear worm? “They ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles, and they ran through the bushes where a rabbit wouldn’t go.”
For those of us who recognize the classics, at least…
Dammit now I have that song in my head, thankyouverymuch.
The Aussie cousins have bush turkeys which are just as dumb and possibly more trouble than ours. They fly up onto the roof of the house and you have to go out and drag your dog inside because he/she won’t come in having ‘treed’ a live critter and they Must Wait until it comes down. Add a sound score of 3-parts barking and growling and you have the entire picture in sound-of-vision. Arg. Be glad you have cats.
Knew the song, had to look up who the singer was. Johnny Horton.
Cats also do not prevent one from leaving the window open to enjoy cooler night air, by repeatedly jumping up to look out and bark at carousing possums. They do, however, meow one awake at damn o’clock in the morning on weekends, because “that’s when you Usually get up and feed us …”
Now I’ve got that song stuck in my head, too. Along with an image of my little brothers at a young age, bouncing and singing along to it.
I live out in the country north of SF, and we have several flocks at different age groups roaming our area. We also have fruit trees, including the apple tree below our deck where we can watch them fly up. Usually our cat and dog ignore them, but every once in awhile the dog will chase them up into the redwood trees on the lot line. The turkeys also like to walk through the horse corral next door pecking at whatever is left there. They seem to stay away from the two sheep though. Fun to watch, a nuisance when they get to the apples and pears before we do! Love the snippets! Thank you!
Regarding the snippet, without putting any pressure whatsoever on you regarding where the story goes, when I read it, I had a mental image of Kamele and Aelliana in piquant conversation. Even if it never comes true, the image gave me several moments of pure glee. So thanks for that. 🙂
Who you callin’ a Turkey???