Bird-Booster Prairie Pleasures

After a morning run and a shower, I eased myself into the prototype’s cushioned chair. I’d jogged two kilometers out to its narrowed aluminum end to place some seeds on the small platform before jogging back. I bought the flat, prairie ranch a year ago and then spent ten months erecting the fulcrum, beams and superstructure of the massive seesaw.

Sitting comfortably a meter from the balance point, I leaned to the right to see past the suspension tower and cables and view the bird feeder through a telescope. Spying no activity, I relaxed a while with a newspaper and cup of coffee before feeling the thrill of suddenly being lifted into the air. After once being thrown out of my chair by a landing Canada goose, I’d since then always used a seatbelt.

Eagerly checking the eyepiece, I was pleased to see a tiny snow bunting enjoying the seeds at the other end while holding me suspended above the ground. I later spent an hour in the afternoon enjoying the shudders of levered, falling leaves and the bucking jolts of a magnified, distant hail storm.