While mowing the lawn recently, I came across a dead chicken that had been misplaced by one of our numerous resident eagles. The eagles sat in a tree over me with obvious disappointment as I extracted the now-confirmed deceased chicken from the jaws of the lawn mower.
The entire event felt like one of those odd occurrences that should have a deeper meaning or life lesson attached to it. However, eagles and I have surprisingly little in common aside from our general shared disappointment for how the afternoon had turned out. I don’t have claws, feathers, a taste for chicken, or the ability of flight. Eagles can’t operate a lawn mower, lack the thumbs to extract carcasses from underneath machinery, and lack the ability to reflect on the life lessons associated with carcass extraction after extracting said carcass from underneath the aforementioned machinery.
After minutes of extensive thought, the only thing I could come up with was don’t leave your dinner in long grass, which I think is generally good advice for anyone.
Image: Simer Haer/The Cascade
