A Very Eventful Saturday Afternoon!!

I guess it's been a while since I've had a really cool story to share with you, but yesterday we had a crazy day around here, which actually turned into something blogworthy.

Let me start this off by saying that on our ride to the trailer every weekend from April through October, we've seen hawks soaring in the sky and they really are quite a breathtaking sight. And, no kidding, I said to my friend Susan just the other day how beautiful they are and how much I miss seeing them since camping season is over and we won't be taking that ride for awhile. Well, I guess one of them heard me and decided to pay us a little visit.

As I said, yesterday was a crazy day right from the start, because we bought R a new bed and we had to dig out the mess which is his room to be able to disassemble the old bunkbed and bring up and build the new bed. G was waiting in his ever so (im)patient way and R and I were trying hard to sift through the stuff that was no longer wanted or needed. So anyway, while we were doing that G decided to clean out the gutters on the house and to try and fix one that has been leaking. While he was trying to do the repair he asked me to come out and hold the ladder for him as he had to be above the gutter to be able to see what he was doing (a bit higher than he would've needed to be just for cleaning them) and he was afraid the ladder might kick out at the bottom with him so high on it. As I've grown fond of him through all the years we've been together, I, of course, was happy to help him with that. So I held the ladder while he did the repair, and those of you who know me are probably well aware at how freaked out I was with him being so high up there, but we got through it. I went in to finish digging out R's room and G moved the ladder over to continue cleaning the gutters, promising me he didn't need me to hold the ladder for him anymore, because he didn't need to be up quite so high and was confident from that height that the ladder wouldn't kick out on him. R's room faces the backyard and we have an above ground pool with a deck and then behind our yard is this wooded area with a little branch of the river running through it. So R happens to look out the back window and he says "Hey, what's Daddy doing back by the pool?" I think I sort of growled at him to let Daddy do what he's doing and that he should be staying focused on what we were doing. I sent him downstairs to take out a bag of the stuff we were throwing out and when he got down there, G said "Hey R, come out here quick!" So of course he went outside, and I'm sitting there waiting for him, getting aggravated because I thought the kid jumped ship on me and then G calls up to me "Kim, hurry up and come out here!"

I go out there and there is a huge hawk sitting on a dead branch in the wooded area behind the house. It seems it had swooped down and grabbed a squirrel and flown back up again, nearly knocking my beloved off of the ladder. It went to a tree behind the house, and of course G ran for the camera and started snapping away while the hawk enjoyed its snack. I'm posting the least gross of the pictures, but this hawk was terribly obliging, because it actually took it's meal (aka victim) to a closer branch after awhile, so G was able to take even better pictures. Oh, and btw, I figured out how to post pictures so that if you click on them in the post they will enlarge for you, and with these I recommend that you do that, they really are quite something. To get an idea of the size of how big the hawk was, click on the photo below to enlarge it. A Blue Jay landed on the branch just below it, and you can use it as a reference. That hawk was huge!

So, it was a very eventful afternoon. We did eventually get R's new bed put in and he slept there quite snugly. As to our "visitor" thank Heaven G saw it coming toward him, or instead of running out to look at a hawk I'd have been calling 911. And to whatever hawks might be reading this, I've had enough visits for awhile and I'll happily wait to see you soaring in the sky on our way to camp next spring.