Freeing the turkey buzzard!

2 eggs in the adobe bird nest!

This is really embarrassing...for Kathy anyway. A really wonderful story with what we hope will be a happy ending and no arrest warrant for trespassing, and we have not one photo to help tell the tale! Though she took many, many photos, Kathy was totally inept with her cellphone camera and got absolutely NO photos of the rescue of the curious turkey buzzard who was imprisoned in the corn crib and would have surely met his DEATH without her brave attempt to rescue it. So, with no photos, Kathy will have to rely on her story telling abilities to give you a visual of this event.

Bonnie and Kathy went to the farm today to check and see what Rex had been doing. Bonnie took the day off because we were supposed to meet Kathy's brothers, their wives, and Kathy's mother for dinner in Wabash this evening. Kathy's mother has been sick with a bad cold and the dinner had to be postponed. Bonnie kept her day off, and the two of us headed to the farm late this morning. After seeing all the things Rex and LeeAnn had done, we stopped off at the Planning Commission to get a permit for the wrap-around deck we hope to have built, and our front porch which, according to the Commission, is really a deck. There will be no problem getting this permit and we should be able to pick it up in a few days. While in that office, we scheduled the final inspection on the house for a week from tomorrow. Kathy will be there for the inspection.

We found out that we cannot place a portable aluminum carport where we would like to place it because, even though it is portable, we still have to abide by the same distances from the center of the road and the property lines as though it were a permanent structure. So scratch that option. We also found out that we do not have to have steps to the kitchen door for the cottage to pass inspection, but that the door has to be made inoperable. To do that we can simply have the deadbolt lock from the outside of the door. Kathy will take care of that tomorrow or Sat.

Bonnie made arrangements earlier this morning for Rick Bauer to return to tie in the perimeter drain to the existing tile. He will need to actually remove part of the older field tile heading south down the slope until he has the angle he needs for the proper drainage for the perimeter drain. Right now our perimeter drain is lower than the field tile, making draining into it impossible. The north side of that field tile will also have to be worked into the equation. Right now, because of the tiles not being hooked up, the area between the retaining walls at the walk-out is not drying out. Once all the tiles are hooked up, we can have some stone moved in. Rick will also be doing the rest of the back-fill around the house.

We found out that we will not need a permit to increase the size of our driveway, put stone at the walk-out, or even when/if we decide to have a concrete slab poured between the retaining walls.

Once we pass inspection we will get in and clean and then, hopefully, begin to move some things in so we can spend the weekends if we want to until we can get our appliances and larger items moved. Kathy took some time off around Memorial Day for the major move.

OK, so we checked on Rex's work, went to the Planning Commission, and we ate Mexican at Don Raphael's. Bonnie got her hair cut and Kathy got a couple copies of the key made that opens our shed and Denny's outbuilding where our tiller is still housed.

Kathy checked on the adobe robins' nest and discovered two eggs. She expects several more. There is an excellent view of the nest from the kitchen door that will not disturb the nesting robins.

This brings us to the rescue of the turkey buzzard.

Kathy and Bonnie saw Barbara and Denny outside and dropped off a key for Denny to his outbuilding since Kathy had to get his the other day when ours came up missing. (We will most likely find it now.)

As always, we enjoyed our visit with our cave-dwelling neighbors and talked about our luncheon date this coming Saturday. We will be taking one of our laptops and an air card with us on Saturday to see if Barbara can get AT&T wireless service below ground. She is not too happy with her dial-up these days.

Denny showed us an awesome design he made for his garden for his vining plants. It involved using 4" (?) PVC pipe as a post and other pieces of plastic. You know, you won't believe this contraption, but we were really impressed, so Kathy will just have to take a photo of it at different times during the growing season so you can see if Denny's design is a success or not.

So while we are talking to Denny and Barbara, Denny mentions that this stupid turkey buzzard was flying above the corn cribs across the road from his homestead. The small tops to these cribs have fallen off. So this buzzard must have seen a rodent in the corn in one of the cribs, and he hops in. Problem was, he couldn't spread his wings to fly out because the opening at the top was too narrow! Someone, who shall remain nameless because he doesn't want to appear cruel and heartless, stated that the buzzard would die in the crib. Kathy was aghast, and her brain raced to figure out how to save the turkey buzzard. Cut the wire on the crib? No, that would be destroying property.

We headed down Denny's driveway to drive back to The Fort, but Kathy kept seeing that turkey buzzard trapped in the wire crib. "Turn right," she instructed Bonnie. "We have to try to save that buzzard."

Arriving at the scene of the entrapped buzzard, Kathy discovered that there was a wire door partially open and that the corn in the crib was low enough that none would spill out if she opened the door even more. But she couldn't get the door open, had to study it, and finally figured out how to open it wide enough for the buzzard to get out. When she finally got it loose, the entire door fell off and landed at her feet. Dang! She collected all the parts and neatly stacked them next to the crib.

Just then, he who was going to let the buzzard die appeared and thought he might be able to scare the buzzard from behind, getting him to escape out the opening. But no! The silly bird was too frightened to escape. We were certain he would figure it out once we left, and Kathy will be checking on him tomorrow or Saturday when she returns to the farm.

If you are the owner of this property and ever read this blog, Kathy apologizes for trespassing and removing your crib door. If she can figure out how to put the door back on after the buzzard escapes, she will. And Bonnie sat in the car the whole time and is guilty only of trespassing and not vandalism.