Good Neighbors, Sweet Al and Turkeys

I thought of our neighbors today and felt safe, blessed and happy. They’re good people. We all moved to the Lower Blanco in 1976, and have lived peacefully next to each other ever since. They mind their business and we mind ours.

I’ll send over compost for their goats and chickens and give them our empty egg cartons, expecting nothing in return. They’ll send home a carton of fresh eggs. It’s a simple exchange, doesn’t cost anything. It’s not big, but it’s big in the way we respect each other and the length of our friendship.

Turkey season will be here in April and it also marks another anniversary of 55 years for My Sweet Al and I. We have lived together somewhat peacefully all these years. This is how we do it.

Al’s been reading up on Turkeys. He’s sitting in his camouflage, with only one good eye showing through his facemask, the other one is closed. He’s got his gun pointed on the turkey mounted on our wall and he’s telling me once again how he shot it.

I’m looking at the turkey hunter mounted in his big brown chair and I’m listening to the same story once again. I’m pretending to be interested in his turkey story and practicing the good neighbor thing. My mind is somewhere else and it’s like sending over an empty egg carton.

I’m trying the good neighbor thing with my Sweet Al who loves to tell his turkey stories. I nod and say, “Yes Honey.” I could care less. My thoughts are on the next article I want to write.

He said, “Listen to this.” He put down his gun and picks up the Turkey Country Magazine. He begins to read.

The article is interesting, my ears perk up. There’s an exchange going on under our noses and in our backyards. Most of us don’t know about it. Maybe I could incorporate this turkey information into my next article for the Artist’s Lane.

This will make a lot of big points with my Sweet Al and he’ll think I was listening the whole time. In a way, I’m sending over a full carton of fresh eggs for his breakfast And, I’m even cooking them for him. I think myself very clever.

The article was based on the premise of the old farmer’s fable with adjacent fields. One grew corn and the other grew beans, they exchanged their bounty.

It talks about the expanding population of  wild turkeys in Arizona, which are being exchanged for the antelope in New Mexico?  New Mexico has more than 30,000 pronghorn antelopes, which will be traded in the next few years with other states. New Mexico’s Rocky Mountain big horn will be traded with Utah for their blue grouse.

Brian Wakeling, game branch chief of the Arizona Game and Fish Department says, “Much of what we do in wildlife management isn’t visible and doesn’t give speedy gratification, but trade projects like these are evidence of the success of joint efforts.”

The chief’s words caught my attention, “Much of what we do isn’t visible and doesn’t give speedy gratification.” I would finish those words with, “But the rewards are sweet and it might keep you together for 55 years.”

Final Brushstroke! Listening to Al’s turkey stories is big to him. It takes work and commitment to listen to another turkey story, but it brings longevity and a happy husband. At night I sleep sound, safe and peaceful.