Roadrunner and a Rig
Last week two strange things appeared on the farm.
Roadrunner
Roadrunner
While I was having my horseback riding lesson, Jared discovered there was a roadrunner in the flower garden. I've never seen one up close!
Even though they are native to the Southwest, I have only seen a few of them in my life. Those were running along the road living up to their name.
"According to legends of the old Southwest, the roadrunner had a foolproof way of outfoxing its enemy, the deadly rattlesnake. Whenever it found a rattler sleeping, the roadrunner would fence it in with pieces of cactus, then awaken the snake with a quick jab. Alarmed and thrashing, the rattler would be stabbed to death by cactus spines." (Book of North American Birds, 1990, Reader's Digest) Such a clever story. We don't have any cactus but I am glad to know it will kill snakes!
This one seemed to be lost and zoomed around the place before it settled into the barn where it hung out for a couple of days.
Even though they are native to the Southwest, I have only seen a few of them in my life. Those were running along the road living up to their name.
"According to legends of the old Southwest, the roadrunner had a foolproof way of outfoxing its enemy, the deadly rattlesnake. Whenever it found a rattler sleeping, the roadrunner would fence it in with pieces of cactus, then awaken the snake with a quick jab. Alarmed and thrashing, the rattler would be stabbed to death by cactus spines." (Book of North American Birds, 1990, Reader's Digest) Such a clever story. We don't have any cactus but I am glad to know it will kill snakes!
Jared was quick with the camera and managed to get some good shots of the bird.
Rig
The other new neighbor that has moved in, is an oil rig.
It's not actually on our land but behind us on the acreage that our boys lease for their cattle. They have been working on the pad site since Thanksgiving and now are drilling for oil.
It was amazing how quickly they brought in all the equipment. In one morning, they moved in and set up shop. The next day, they had the rig set upright.
Now it's lit up like a Christmas tree and they are working 24 hours a day. You would think it would be quite loud but it's really not. It will only take two weeks to drill and then there will only be a pump jack.
At first we weren't thrilled at the possibility of a rig out back but we do live in Oklahoma where black oil is king. It's just a normal part of our state's landscape.