A Beautiful Evening with George

During my cooking evening on Sunday, I heard the geese at the river.  From our back window you can see the Neuse River, where the old draw bridge used to be.  For those of you that don't know, Martha has been missing for a little over two weeks.  George also moved to the Blacks down the street from us, to live on the river with her "Ladies and Gentlemen" and ducks.

So, I hear the geese and go running to the river, hoping George is there.  He lives maybe 1/2 mile down the rivers edge, but they do come this far up.  I got down there and it was a bit hard to see as the sun was setting.  The "Ladies and Gentlemen" (white China geese) were there as well as Mother Goose (the African goose) as well as the Mallards and Pekins.  I could not see George anywhere.

After a while, I decided to call to him: "GEOORGE!"  And he answered with his usual "honk"  I could tell he was probably at the Blacks.  So I ran in that direction, calling to him on the way, and he answered every time.

When I arrived at the Blacks yard, I found that George was the ONLY bird there!  Poor boy was on their back deck peering into the door windows. 

We chatted for a bit, then headed to the river.  He went into the water and swam towards our house as I walked along the river's edge.  We chatted along the way.  George is always so full of stories.

The scene was gorgeous, I sooo wish I had my camera in my pocket as I often do.  You could see George's silhouette on the river with the darkening sky in the background and that fiery reddish orange sky along the horizon.  

We reached the flock, still in the river behind our house.  George came out and sat with me for a bit, we chatted of course.  It was getting rather dark, the soup was still cooking on the stove and Greg was waiting for his dinner which was in the toaster oven baking.  I had to leave, but I felt so sad to leave George.  I gave him a pat on the back and told him "George, it's time for bed.  I have to go.  Good night, George"  Before I even turned to walk away, he headed out into the water, joined his flock and started to lead them home.

I was so touched by all of this.  I actually felt sad for some reason.  It is so beautiful to see that George knows and understands his place in nature, he is a goose!  But Martha Goose is gone, and he was so attached to her.  George came from a hatchery that sells hundreds of birds, thousands probably, and I can't even bear the thought of how the others must live once they are hatched and sold.

I hoped that George would learn he could swim to this place in the river and honk for us.  The next day, Greg told me while he was caring for the chickens he could hear the geese, so he went down to the river - and what do you know?  The LOUDEST goose was George :)