Sunday, November 9, 2008

Those darn Buzzards

My wife was already gone this morning when I woke. I stumbled into the bathroom and flipped on the switch. Nothing, nada, zip, zero, zilch. Had to be a breaker. I got dressed, went down stairs, out the door, around the house to the breaker box to flip the breaker. Uuuummm, all the breakers are on. Most welders are also usually pretty good electricians, but not me. I had to think this through. Ah ha, the big switch box on the power pole. I headed around the shop, thinking about how much closer I was getting to a hot cup of coffee. I could almost smell that coffee now. Uh oh, everything looks good here too. Now what to do. I was just about to settle on going to the feed store down the road for my coffee when Bonnie, my Blue Lacy dog started to growl. She was looking over the fence into the neighbors pasture. I looked over the fence to see what the problem was. There was the problem, or at least the cause of my problem.



It appeared that said buzzard had lit on the power pole, causing a short between two lines and blowing the big fuse on the top of the pole. And he paid for it with his carrion eating life too. Poor guy. I have to admit that I felt sorry for him (or her as the case may be). I kind of like buzzards. They have a job to do and it's a job that needs doing. And they are stricken with being really ugly while doing an equally ugly job as well. Poor guy.

While I felt sorry for the poor fried buzzard I did not feel sorry for his buddy perched here on my roof. For some reason they love to sit on the peak of my roof as do the Great Horned owls. I don't mind the owls so much as they just sit there and hoo hoo but the buzzards have to walk back and forth making scratchy noises on the tin. It just drives my dogs crazy. I usually have to go out on the upstairs deck and walk around on the porch roof and scare them off.


While I was up there I did notice this aerial view of the beds that my wife just planted. It certainly gave me a new perspective of the vegetable gardens.



In the end I went to the feed store for my coffee, the poor buzzard lost his life, and a couple of hours later the power was restored. Regardless of what you've read about PEC, the company is a super bunch of people who truly strive to keep you in electricity. They are always so nice and help out any way they can. I've seen them on the side of the road changing a flat for someone. They also have a great magazine they send out. I am really glad to be serviced by them on my electricity. Other than the occasional ice storm or buzzard you will have electricity--and coffee.

7 comments:

walk2write said...

The buzzard eyeing his buddy down below seems kind of creepy. No, I'll "think positive" and imagine that he was admiring the garden instead. You're right about power company people. They not often recognized for the great service they render. We take their work for granted until we can't have our coffee or hot shower or use of the computer or....

Rock rose said...

I call these guys vultures and a neighbor calls them Mexican Eagles. We are talking about the same birds right?
veg beds are looking very nice.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with the habit of photographing the dead wildlife in my yard. I've heard that animals who have shorted out lines in the fashion of the your buzzard sometimes catch fire, fall to the ground, and start wildfires.

Your raised beds look great!

Chandramouli S said...

Ah, poor thing. So sad his life had to end like this.

Bob said...

L. Rose; these were buzzards as their heads are black. We also have Turkey Vultures, which looks just like a Buzzard but their head is red. The Mexican eagle is a bird that's real name is a Cara Cara, kind of a cross between a eagle and a Buzzard.

MSS, I've heard the same thing but have never seen it.

Annie in Austin said...

Thanks for this fascinating glimpse of life in the country, Bob. We see both black and turkey vultures in my neighborhood, but they don't seem to land on nearby roofs.

At our previous house we'd see the vultures when the sun came out after a rain, perched on the roof of our neighbor's house, spreading and shaking their wings to dry.

Nice appreciation for those who keep the power working, too.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Tabor said...

We have just finished 90% of the work on our raised gardens for spring. We now can grow the most expensive lettuce in the land.