NaturallyResilient

About

The grass and weeds would get tall on our 68 acres in central Texas. We bought an old 15 foot bat wing shredder to pull behind the tractor to keep the weeds knocked down. This is the kind with a wing on each side that will fold up if the hydraulics are working right.

I enjoyed shredding the field. It was a time of reflection in the quiet solitude of the tractor roar. The tractor was pretty loud, loud enough to alert the hawk who resided in the area. When the tractor started up, I would soon see the hawk making lazy circles above me in the sky. He knew that dinner was soon to be served. The noise of the tractor and the shredder would send the mice and rabbits scurrying for cover and when the hawk saw them he would swoop down and try to catch one.

I would always start at the outer edge and work inwards toward the middle. The small rodents would always run toward the taller grass not realizing that the patch was getting small with each pass of the tractor. One day while shredding, the hawk had dived down to try and catch something and was on the ground about 40 feet from the tractor which was now making its pass on the other side of the tall grass. As the mower got closer to the perpendicular where the hawk was, the tall grass started shaking like a critter was running away from the tractor. Then there was a squawk and flapping where the hawk was. As the tractor came close to the hawk on the second pass I could guess what had happened. A rabbit had run right into the hawk who was sitting on the ground looking rather surprised with the free meal in his talons. No wonder he always came out when he heard the tractor.