wildlife plus

[Ron Nossaman]

> Good luck catching one...they are veritable Einsteins compared with the 
> ones we eat at holidays.  And they can actually fly! 
>  
> Weird lookin' critters, kinda like quail on steroids.
>  
> Dave Stahl


I stopped to eat a sandwich for lunch out in the country one day, 
between tunings. I was in a relatively cool low shady spot by a 
creek beside the road, munching away, when I saw movement in the 
brush beside the road. About a dozen turkeys cautiously appeared one 
by one from seemingly nowhere, ambled leisurely across the road just 
in front of me, and evaporated into the cover on the other side of 
the road. I was struck by how right and natural they looked in that 
setting, and how much they obviously belonged there. It was great!

At various times, I've stopped for deer, bobcats, coyotes, skunks, a 
beaver, an armadillo, squirrels, bunnies, and steered around or 
helped across various snakes and turtles. Even saved a bird tangled 
in monofiliment on a fence once.

Another time, after a big wind storm the night before, I found a 
newly dead great horned owl at the roadside, with a $1, and a $5 
bill lying next to it. One can only wonder.

So I won't ever get rich, especially at $6 a pop, but it would sure 
be hard to take a real job at this point.
Ron N