Reading, Interrupted

Having a weekend job can really suck. Anybody who works one knows exactly what I mean. It just sucks having to be somewhere else when you see so many other people having free time, and able to do fun things, to enjoy themselves.

This is a time of the year when this can be especially harsh. The weather is breathtaking, and cannot be more ideal. It is only like this really for a few weeks of the year, and late April/early May, along with late September/October, often are the very best times to enjoy the weather that we get (at least in this part of the world).

So, going in for a job can really suck. Especially since the office on the weekend job has no windows.

That said, I am lucky, because with that job, I am not restricted to the office. So, I do not have to spend all of my time inside of there.

In fact, when the weather is nice, I try to make a point of spending a lot of time outside. To that end, I actually feel quite blessed, because the grounds of that facility are actually rather beautiful, truth be told. There are a couple of  ponds, and a wide expanse of lawn that looked incredibly lush and green (in a natural way) today. During the spring, there is an amazing splash of colors, with trees and bushes blossoming in various shades of gold and pink and violet. It is located on a bluff overlooking the western horizon, with the foothills stretching out into the distance. I have seen some incredible sunsets from this vantage point, with the beauty of the pastel shades reflected on the surface of the pond waters.

Often times, I take my lunch or dinner out here, and have a makeshift, one-man picnic. Also, when the weather is accommodating, I will bring a book (or several books), plant my butt on a bench overlooking it all, and read, enjoying myself pretending I am not actually at work.

It can actually be fun!

So, this past weekend, I did just that. I read quite a bit on Saturday, and the weather could not have been more ideal and glorious!

Sunday was a bit more overcast, yet I still made a point of going outside to read.

Only, something distracted me only a few minutes in.

There were geese coming out of the water.  But not just any geese. There were two geese that initially caught my attention, but then, there was additional movement. Small little things quickly darting about, and I put my book down. These were the first chicks of the new spring season!

You see, since I spend so much time outside at this play of employment, I have had the privilege (and yes, I consider it a privilege) to watch these kinds of things here. You might never know it if you saw it, or drove by, but this place is actually teeming with wildlife. There are woods all around. They do not go far or deep, but they apparently are enough to support a dazzling amount of wildlife. No exaggeration, the list of wildlife that I and  others weekend warriors have seen here is rather mind boggling. I have seen a fox, a couple of coyotes (those just a few weeks ago, although it was more of a distant siting, as they quickly ran away into the woods), a blue heron, numerous wild turkeys, hawks and turkey vultures, deer (including males with very impressive antlers). And, of course, the usual suspects of squirrels and chipmunks and, yes, geese.

And yes, the geese have left their droppings all over the lawn, and elsewhere. And yes, quite a few people complain about it, and claim that they are such a pain in the ass.

Apparently, management agrees, having hired the "geese police" to come on site on occasion to chase the geese away. essentially, the guy gets out of his car, goes to where the geese are, and starts clapping and running towards them and yelling, thus chasing them away. Police work at it's finest. What a job!

In any case, one of the great joys about the wildlife that does exist is getting the chance to see the chicks every year. It starts off early, and you see these tiny litle yellow things, full of young life and energy, running around at their parents feet, and eating, eating eating. You count them, and slowly but surely, you begin to gain the ability to differentiate between the different couplings of geese, and their offspring. Then, you can track their progress.

They start off bright yellow, and teeny, tiny. Then, they get a bit bigger. Eventually, they are not really yellow anymore, and they seem more gray. Then, they begin to resemble the more fully grown geese, although you can still tell them apart from the adults, since the colors are light, and there still seems to be that extra layer on top of what will be their more permanent look, soon enough.

Before too long, they completely blend in, and you cannot tell them apart from those who have been adults for a long time.

I don't actually know much about geese, but have observed their behavior over these years, and have wondered about certain things, such as why some remain alone and, I swear it seems like this - socially ostracized. But I guess that is a conversation for another time.

Last year, when the chicks first made their appearance (it might actually have been the second weekend, but they were still very small), I remember a hawk flying around, looking to make a meal out of one of those chicks. But there were other birds around, and they were making such a ruckus, that the hawk really never got much of a chance to sneak up on anything or anybody on that day. One interesting note, all of the birds of the area teamed up in the same way whenever the fox would show up, every now and then. It was actually kind of funny, because while a fox usually is known for being sly and hard to catch a glimpse of, you just knew where this one was, by the ruckus that followed it everywhere. The poor thing actually had to dive down once in a while to avoid the dive bombing, suicidal birds that would try and peck at it's red head.

In any case, I digress (you'll find I do this often).

Yes, observe these chicks and the community of geese that helps to raise them each spring, and you begin to identify at least the babies in the bunch, as they begin to grow up into awkward teenagers, before finally blossoming into awkward adult geese, they of the beautiful singing voices and the "bombs away" droppings that are always a danger whenever they fly above you.

Before long, you feel (at least for a little while), like you "know" them. For example, I will specifically be able to identify these by their numbers. The first couple that I saw had seven chicks, the second couple had six, and the third had four. There may be more, and apparently, they do not all hatch at the same time. Last year, some chicks began to appear surprisingly late in the season (I think it was late May or so). The other "babies" were already gray and getting big, and then there was this batch of tiny little, bright yellow chicks, and they always put a smile on my face, and brighten my day. Not sure why they have that effect, but they do, admittedly.

So, in any case, my books were forgotten, and I waited to see if the opportunity arose for some pictures. Keeping in mind that (a) I still don't have a real camera, and the one I used has no zoom, and (b), I did not want to get up to move closer, because that would have scared them, not to mention ruined any chance at a good picture, and perhaps gotten one of the adult geese to heatedly pursue my ass.

The pictures were not the greatest, but nevertheless, you can see the chicks a bit. You may have to look closely, and if your vision is not all that great (like, say, mine), then you may have to place your face right up to the screen to see), but rest assured, they are there.

It makes the job a little easier to take. In fact, I feel blessed to have that job (and my other job!). Plus, it has offered some good times and good people along the way, during my ten plus years there (Wow! Still can't believe I can say that). The last batch of winter pictures that I posted were actually from the weekend job. Knowing this, you might be justified in asking what it is I actually do there.

And if pressed for an answer, I would tell you I think up some new posts for this blog!