Packing News, Part 3

We admitted defeat earlier this week. After offloading a bunch of stuff, ditching the four-drawer file cabinets, and handing over the chest freezer, we took the trailer to get weighed again. It was about 3000 pounds heavier than we expected. So we have rented a truck after all. Glenn and Nick from NCSE came over to help us get stuff loaded, and they also helped us take down the hawk mews, a messy job that nevertheless needed doing.

What else could go wrong? Well, one of the family could get sick. Shelby, our male Harris’s hawk, had a large crop yesterday, and he had been fed the day before. Usually, they will have processed a cropful of food in a day. Diane noted that last night, and when we looked this morning, Shelby still had more in his crop than we thought he should. So Diane went off to an avian veterinary office in Oakley earlier today. The vet’s verdict: a mild case of “sour crop”. Shelby got subcutneous fluids and some antibiotics. We need to keep an eye on his progress as we travel. They also gave us the contact information for an avian vet in Albuquerque, New Mexico, if he does not seem to be getting better by the time we get that far.

We hope to finish up the loading in the morning. Then we can get our car loaded on a dolly to be towed behind the rental truck and start our cross-country trek. We have promises from both sets of parents and my sister to watch out for changes in weather forecasts along our route and road closure information.

I doubt that I will have time to do a raptor photo for this week. Sorry about that. I hope to be able to make it up to you next week.