Bombs Away!
Saturday, I went to Charlottesville, VA for my very first Kayaking experience. Having been canoeing before, I felt confident, that at least I wouldn’t embarrass myself out on the water. Fortunately, instead of attempting a first outing on a fast flowing river, I was introduced to the sport on the Rivanna reservoir, where all I had to contend with were some pleasant winds and my own ineptness. While my fledgling-kayaking prowess did not set the world on fire, nor did my instructor proclaim me the next kayaking champ-een in the making, I did manage to stay up right and fairly dry during the entire experience. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny with all manner of wild life on display; from families of turtles on logs to mom and pop geese, with cute fuzzy little yellow goslings.
Towards the end of the afternoon of kayaking, we paddled over to a cove where some geese were making a racket. RJM went in closer to see what all the hubbub was about. Closer and closer he went, until it seemed to both the geese and me, that they were being cornered. Not a good thing. The geese kept angrily honking at him, pretty much telling him to back off. To no avail. I wisely stayed out of the deepest part of the cove by a good 20 yards as he eventually drove the geese completely out of the water and up the reservoir’s banks. All the time asking them (the geese) where they were going. They continued their angry protest until he too ran out of water and turned around to paddle away.
We were about 30 yards out of the cove when the two geese took to the air. As they were passing overhead, I prayed aloud, “Please don’t poop on me!” and they took mercy on me, and then made a decided jogged left over towards RJM’s kayak. It was then I heard the bomb doors sliding open and the air was suddenly filled with gobs of goose poop, raining down on RJM’s position. The first he knew of it was when some of the “bombing” material hit the water near him. And then it hit his left shoulder and his left shirtsleeve. The geese had taken their revenge for cornering them. I don’t know about them, (the geese) but I felt like justice had been servered.
So the lesson for the day – Don’t mess with Mother Nature.
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