Worked with the newbies in the afternoon, did a quick trip to Walmart then a quick supper before heading out for an evening of cards. The men over the ladies 2 games to 0. Looks like rain today!

The following spring my mate and I began the rebuilding of a new nest in a tree close by the original. But all the remaining trees are very old, they have decay within their trunks and with no protection from the winds off the mountain, we fear for the survival of the new nest.

Instead of the occasional man passing by, they now reside under us and around us.  The ground beneath us shakes with the work of heavy machinery.  The once peaceful sound of surf and wind now competes with the incessant noise of engines from early morning until late at night.  The air we breathe is clogged with dust during the dry times and in recent times, even in the heart of winter’s nights ,our peace has been shattered by the roar and flame of exploding objects and by the noise and fires of the men around us.

This is our ancestral home, my mate and I will stay on for a while, but one day this new aerie will crash with the tree that supports it and then we will leave and seek out a new place where perhaps solitude and peace will again prevail.

That is the end of that short story, it is based on an eagles nest out at Salmon Beach where we spent 20 summers. The men cutting boundaries were surveyors. The roar and explosions were the fireworks and activities of some of the residents at Halloween. I think the rest is self explanatory.