DOWN HOME:
Don't look right now, but it's a zoo out there
___A crow is banging his head on the wall outside my office window. (OK, maybe she's banging her head; all crows look about alike, and I'm not adept at gender-differentiation of look-alike birds.)
___We've been discussing why these crows come around and bang their heads on the southeastern wall of the Baptist Standard Building. We really don't have a clue.
___They arrived not long after the buzzards left. And the buzzards showed up quite awhile after the pack of stray dogs decided they enjoyed scratching their scrawny backs on the ivy ground cover that grows under our oak trees.
___Our office sits on a high plot of land in an industrial park in West Dallas, just north of the prominent outcropping that gives the Oak Cliff section of the city its name.
___We're probably three miles from downtown, as these crows could fly. (And how I pray they would.)
___The Standard moved from downtown Dallas to Lone Star Industrial Park in 1975, the same month I graduated from high school. We were the first occupant of the new development, so we got the scenic spot, complete with a gorgeous skyline view of Dallas. We like it here.
___So do birds and stray dogs.
___And we like some of the birds. My favorite is the red-tail hawk who shows up occasionally. His terrain is the little valley that breaks off our property and probably the Trinity River flood plain, maybe a mile or two away.
___We also enjoy the bluejays, who fight with squirrels and argue with each other. And the occasional mockingbird, who makes us wish we could raise the windows to hear him sing.
___The buzzards showed up last year in the summer. We tried not to take their arrival as an omen. But if you want to get a good look at something both creepy and fascinating, stare eyeball-to-eyeball at a buzzard three feet out your window.
___We were glad when they left. Except the crows followed them. The call of a crow when you're trying to work is about as pleasant as your great-aunt Ethel's snore when you're trying to listen to the preacher in church.
___And then there's the incessant banging against the wall, not two feet from my computer. David thinks they're sharpening their bills on the brick. Mark just thinks they're loco. I'm inclined to agree with Mark. And if I could keep myself from watching them, I almost wish the buzzards would come back to scare the crows away.
___Sometimes, this animal life outside my window reminds me of church. I've admired the leadership of a few souls like the hawk. I've known several busybodies like the bluejays, encountered some stubborn hard-heads like the crows, heard some songbirds like the mockingbirds. Almost every church has an ol' buzzard or two; some folks, like the squirrels, who work hard all the time; and even a few others, like the dogs, who lounge around under the trees. Like the spreading branches of the mighty oak, God's grace covers us all.
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