Wild Turkeys - August 8, 2010, Picture taken by T-Square

Word of the Day

Tangentalize - To go off on a tangent or bunny trail in a conversation.

Woodtick Count - 30

Turkeys! Several years back the powers that be decided to re-introduce wild turkeys to the area where we live. They've been very fruitful and have multiplied. It isn't uncommon to see rafters of turkey wandering up and down my driveway or hear them calling out in the woods.

The other day four large adult turkeys and all their off-spring came strutting out of the woods, heading straight for my tame raspberry bushes. It's fun to see them but I'm not going to let a rafter of wild turkeys come in and strip my tame raspberries bushes of all their fruit. Not happening. I went outside to chase them off and Kylee got her first experience with wild turkeys. She loved it. She chased and leaped and ran and grinned. She loved it. Me? Not so much. It was hard getting her to come back inside after all that fun and after I finally got her back inside, it was hard getting her to settle down. Since then, I've been a bit more cautious about letting Kylee outside when I see anything that she may decide to chase (herd). Unfortunately, Kylee is a lot better and seeing things than me.

Interestingly enough, Kylee doesn't bark when she's in pursuit of whatever she happens to see and want to chase. Sure enough, a few days later, I took Kylee outside for our morning "perimeter check" and off Kylee shot like a bullet. Some turkeys had decided to overnight in our backyard, in the wooded buffer-zone between our house and the lake. Off she ran, chasing and leaping, all four legs of the ground and grinning, tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth. *sigh* Thankfully, she does come back when she's called...eventually. Heaven help me if she actually manages to catch on of these wild turkeys. They're bigger than she is but so far they've flown away rather than face a 20# bundle of energy. Also, thankfully, Kylee hasn't learned to stalk her prey.

This morning, I was quietly sitting on the couch, watching TV and crocheting when Kylee stiffened up and sat at full alert. She bobs her head when she's on alert and makes this chuffing noise in her throat. It's weird. Anyway, she shot off the couch and raced to the window. Her head nodding while she chuffed. Sure enough. I looked outside to see a huge turkey pacing back and forth on my lawn. Meanwhile, Kylee raced back and forth between the windows and our front door to stare, nod her head and chuff. Needless to say, I didn't let her outside to "play".

Of course, as usual, I'm slow with my camera so missed any interesting shots of the turkeys. However, my folks had a visit from a rafter of turkeys this morning as well at their place across the lake. T-Square is a lot quicker than me when it comes to getting a Kodak moment shot. Most of the turkeys had escaped into the woods before Dad got his shot lined up but he caught three of them. Me? Zippo....again.

Random Thought of the Day

Why is it called a funny bone, when if you hit it, it's not funny at all?

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland.

- Woody Allen (1935 - )