(This is a warning that the following post may contain content too violent for children or adults with a sensitive nature, and no, Tabor did not kill her husband.)
It was a dark and stormy night...no, actually it was the middle of a sunny afternoon. There were ominous shadows flitting through the trees...no, it was a beautiful spring breeze rustling the new growth and that is what tricked me, that made me oblivious to what was to come. There were an unusual number of blackbirds flying back and forth across the lawn. Thats lends a little ominousness to the mood...doesn't it? There was also the sinister buzz of black flies in the air...the type found in any Stephen King soundtrack.
I had just emptied my overcrowded dish of plant succulents, finished their re-planting and was heading down my driveway to obtain some soil to mix with the sand. As I walked I noticed ever so superficially something bright red on the driveway pavement...a lovely rose petal, perhaps? I continued my saunter under the large leaning tulip poplar that will one day fall across this driveway and kill someone.
Then, without warning, I felt something wet fall onto the outside of my hand just below my watch band. Rain released from a tree leaf? I looked down and saw wet, red blood! A nice juicy spray of drops across the back of my hand to the base of my thumb. I looked up and saw the tulip tree leaves winking at me and nothing else. I looked back down at my hand and quickly wiped away the blood on my muddy jeans, and that was when I saw body parts scattered across the pavement! Truly a CSI moment.
I backed up a yard or two and again tilted my neck to look into the tree. Many of you have already guessed what I saw.
He was not going to interrupt his casual lunch of shad just because I was doing yard work! Today I learned that osprey do not eat the eyeballs, and now I wonder why not? And I realized how much they fertilize the earth when they eat... if not eating over a paved driveway, that is! The ants were soon having a picnic, though.
And at least it was not bird poop that fell from the sky on me....
It was a dark and stormy night...no, actually it was the middle of a sunny afternoon. There were ominous shadows flitting through the trees...no, it was a beautiful spring breeze rustling the new growth and that is what tricked me, that made me oblivious to what was to come. There were an unusual number of blackbirds flying back and forth across the lawn. Thats lends a little ominousness to the mood...doesn't it? There was also the sinister buzz of black flies in the air...the type found in any Stephen King soundtrack.
I had just emptied my overcrowded dish of plant succulents, finished their re-planting and was heading down my driveway to obtain some soil to mix with the sand. As I walked I noticed ever so superficially something bright red on the driveway pavement...a lovely rose petal, perhaps? I continued my saunter under the large leaning tulip poplar that will one day fall across this driveway and kill someone.
Then, without warning, I felt something wet fall onto the outside of my hand just below my watch band. Rain released from a tree leaf? I looked down and saw wet, red blood! A nice juicy spray of drops across the back of my hand to the base of my thumb. I looked up and saw the tulip tree leaves winking at me and nothing else. I looked back down at my hand and quickly wiped away the blood on my muddy jeans, and that was when I saw body parts scattered across the pavement! Truly a CSI moment.
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| Here's looking at you! |
I backed up a yard or two and again tilted my neck to look into the tree. Many of you have already guessed what I saw.
He was not going to interrupt his casual lunch of shad just because I was doing yard work! Today I learned that osprey do not eat the eyeballs, and now I wonder why not? And I realized how much they fertilize the earth when they eat... if not eating over a paved driveway, that is! The ants were soon having a picnic, though.
And at least it was not bird poop that fell from the sky on me....
What an opportunity for experiencing life and taking photos. Your camera must be attached to you. My grandgirls will be thrilled with your pictures and of course a couple girls will say "ewhh," but you won't be able to tear them away from the screen. LOL
ReplyDeleteLast night was a violent night in my Tucson backyard also. The javelina had been dining on the quail block seeds (they can finish one off overnight much to the dismay of the quail and doves) and then boom, something got attacked with a slam and then silence. It must have been a quick end. By the time we looked out we saw nothing and all we heard were the coyotes yipping excitedly, not too far away but in a different spot. Maybe they knew somebody got a dinner and they did not. Javelina are omnivores which mean they will kill when opportunity strikes; so I am guessing this one got a rabbit or packrat. Wisely, the quail and doves aren't usually roaming around at night.
ReplyDeleteCaught in the act... fine spring dining!
ReplyDeleteA graphic set of photos - not nice to be underneath though.
ReplyDeleteWell that just takes the cake. I won't complain abut the worms on our paved driveway--at least for today.
ReplyDeleteWow, drama in the daylight! It does sound like something out of a Steven King novel. Except, it would probably be body parts.
ReplyDeleteokay...I may be a city girl, but, what was it?
ReplyDeleteI am a country girl so I should know: what's shad?
ReplyDeleteApart from that, it's nature red in tooth and claw, and so quick-witted of you to get (have on you) the camera.
I'd have done the same, taken gruesome photos.
But what is that thing on the tarmac? not the eye, the other thing? the bloody one? (I am really enjoying this, can you tell?)
You capture the most amazing moments. Fantastic.
ReplyDeleteGross! That eyeball!
ReplyDeleteThe other day I was walking the dogs and Reub bolted to a nearby bush, got up on his hind legs, and slurped a bunch of rabbit guts, left there by a hawk I guess.
OK, I'm gross, too. Sorry.
I have a small hawk building a nest in the top of one of my pecan trees. It is way up in the top and has been very windy, but she has those sticks wedged in tightly enough I guess as it seems to holding together.
ReplyDeleteTo those who asked...the bird is an osprey, the food was shad a fish that returns to our river this time of year...a local phrase "the shad are running" is heard in the spring AND the osprey sat their for a couple of hours...so getting the camera was not hard.
ReplyDeleteHow serendipitous that you had your camera!
ReplyDeleteGawd! What kind of bird or animal do you think it belong to? That was some scary flash non-fiction.
ReplyDeleteWhat a moment to have captured with camera! I constantly bemoan not having my camera with me when something dramatic happens.
ReplyDeleteeyeball rain, that's a new one. We hand raised a Kestrel, and when the meter reader came, he flew down and sat on his shoulder. Looking for a handout. Too fun to see the look on the guy's face.
ReplyDeleteGoodness. Great moments.
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought my husband was a messy eater.
ReplyDelete