Why did the Turkey/Duck/Whattheheck, Cross the Road?

Not much to say here other than WHATHEHECK!  First off, I woke in the wee hours before day break because I heard water - I assumed was my neighbor's sprinklers. Nope... it was rain. Rain? Yesterday, Sunday September1st, was a grade A Central Valley summer day, i.e., HOT. Now, a mere one day later, Monday September 2nd and BOOM! Autumn. Rained on and off all danged day.

Now at some point I needed to run errands. So, I was driving up Madison, toward HWY 80, and there was a bit of morning traffic but it wasn't bad at all. Still, suddenly, the cars in front of me began to jam on their breaks. I floored my breaks, sending things on the passenger seat flying. Traffic on the four lane suburban street, with a center divider, were stopped in both directions. I mean, what the heck, you know?

Then I saw the problem - Turkey Jam! Tom Turkey Jam to be exact. I had an fit of the giggles as ten young looking Tom turkeys took their dear sweet time walking from one curb, over the center divider and on to the next sidewalk. I thought how wonderful it is that none of the other drivers pushed the issue or moved as much as an inch as the Toms strutted across the busy street.

It was raining of course, but you can sort of see the ten turkeys which just reached the far sidewalk.

I took these photos just as the cars began to move again, and truly the Earth Mother was with me, in as much as I didn't cause an accident on the wet street, with my one-handed, one eye on the road, one eye on the turkeys, iPhone photo op.

EEK! Drive by shooting in broad daylight!  Turkey photo shoot that is...

Turkeys are crazy birds that seem to go where ever they feel like it, even though in this case they were at least five miles suitable habitat - suitable as I see it, that is. No clue what these birds were doing in this suburban neighborhood. I must say I am quite envious of the people on this street that get to share their yards with such BIG birdies. I'm sure they'd happily let me have their yard turkeys if it could be arranged. Can only imagine how... um... interesting it would be to find turkey sized poo all over your lawn or patio.

Oh, and a good month ago, I was further up this same street about 6 miles farther west, and the same thing happened - much, much busier section of street, near the immensely busy Sunrise Avenue and something similar happened. All cars screeched to a halt, as - get this - a mother Mallard crossed the extraordinarily busy street with her ensie widdle baby ducklings peeping and scrambling behind her.

Not my photo - not my ducks - apparently many
Mallard Mommies take their babies into traffic

I nearly had a heart attack watching those fluff-butted ducklings waddle & peep as they raced to keep up with their Mommy. As Mom raced over the cement center divider (after just passing in front of my car) I held my breath because I thought there was no way the tiny babies were going to make it. I actually turned off my car, prepared to leap out and grab ducklings in my shirt, which I guess I would have had to take off to throw over the babies, what was I thinking????

 Happily, the ducklings saved me from making an ass of myself in public. Adeptly, as each reached the cement, they jumped up like little bouncing balls and crossed the divider behind their mother. Whew!

 May I say, there is not a scrap of wildland near Sunrise and Madison. That mallard must have hatched out her babies on a rooftop, alley or in some shrubbery because the nearest body of water & proper duck habitat is the American River and it maybe four or five miles away from the 'duck' crossing.

 I guess the moral of all this poultry road crossing is first, I wish there was more habitat for these adorable & necessary critters. And secondly, I guess we'll all just have to be patient, and jam on our breaks to let the wildlife cross the roads. They know why they are crossing the roads, and we need to shut up and let them.

Twilight: Turkey Eclipse

Had plenty of company this past week. First Barbara was up from Monterey for a visit. She left and the next shift to baby sit me was Gene & Joann Bertsch. Yeah! They were in Northern California for a wedding that took place in the vicinity of the Avenue of the Giants. It was there over the weekend their young cousin married his long time sweetie. Happily for me, Gene & Jo decided to visit me.

I took them for a nice & frankly, just for the heck of it drive through the nearby Old Folsom. We didn't opt to do any shopping there, but we did enjoy the beautiful old homes.

 On the quiet & shady back street of Old Folsom there were a couple of very old autos parked. The red one here has a nice picnic basket in a special carrying place behind the spare wheel - see it? That must have been the equalent of a fancy cup holder back in 'ought o' two'.

This equally red, not quite so shiny car looks like it was just a work horse. It's obviously out to pasture now though, and I'm sure it enjoys all the TLC the roadster in the picture above gets.






Now you know no visit from my San Diego buddies happens without us going out on  'Deer Hunt' in Sunrise on the American River Parkway.

This doe (photo by Joann) seemed a tad moth eaten. Wonder what unwanted adventures she's survived?

She was the first deer we spotted for the evening

After watching the doe for a bit, it was approaching sunrise so we drove to the far end of the park. We were in hope of having a look at 'our' turkey roosting tree, where I've brought many friends to see the spectacle of full grown turkey cocks flying up into the trees for the night. But this time we were all three of us gobsmacked! The huge Turkey Roost Oak Tree was GONE! Eventually I noticed what was left of it, as you can see below.

What happened to the Turkey Roost Oak Tree? Storm? It looks like it just fell down. Weak root system or ?

Totally bummed by the lost of this beautiful tree that was obviously important to wildlife, we decided to drive back down the road and look for a second roosting tree we spotted last May when Gene & Joann were last up this way. We squabbled and fussed over which tree was the correct tree, when suddenly, as the sun dropped lower in the sky, we got a BIG hint.

There was a turkey parade - young Toms, crossing the park road

Climbing up the hillside

The five of them, gathering at the base of their new roosting tree

All snug and safe for the night

If ever there was a parade to enjoy, that is one without floats or bands, this was it! The Toms marched up that hill, then before our eyes, they shot skyward and up into the gigantic oak tree. 

OK,here's the bed count - One... two...

Three, four and five! Can you see 'em all?

We figure that's nature for you. One oak tree down, but there is another in wait to host and keep safe the wild turkeys for the night. Tough luck coyotes!

I'll have the spaghetti with a side of tacos

My bud Barbara is up visiting me this week. We had a sudden longing for some Thai Tom Yum soup, which for years has been my favorite food; made with lemon grass, coconut milk and tender chicken. Finally I decided we should give into our peckishness so I drove us to Andy Nguyens Restaurant. After were seated for a bit, our our waiter came to take our orders. I told him we couldn't find Tom Yum soup on the menu, and he told us, "We're not a Thai restaurant, we're Vietnamese."

Ooops...

Simple error on my part, and unfortunately it isn't the first time I've made the same error at the same restaurant. I keep thinking it is a Thai establishment - wishful thinking at that! Oh well, we enjoyed the heck out of our meal of Imperial rolls with pork & rice noodles, curried pork with rice and Thai iced tea. On our drive home I kept cracking up and laughing until I snorted. After all, isn't not being able to tell Vietnamese cuisine from Thai kind of like going to an excellent Italian Restaurant and ordering chow mein, or siting down at Mexican restaurant and demanding a nice order of Swedish meatballs. I mean, about time I learn to get my ethnicities straight, you know?