A Wedding and a Flock of Crows

 Friday I was dispatched to deliver flowers to a wedding. The venue was 50 miles away. It was a quaint country inn in an Adirondack village. It was snowing about one inch per hour. The temperature was just below freezing so the big fluffy flakes were sticking to everything. It looked like an old New England postcard.

The owner of the inn used our shop frequently for weddings and other special occasions. We weren't about to let a little snow stop us. The manager of our shop worried for my safety but I assured her I would get the bridal bouquet, the boutonnieres and the floral arrangements there without a problem. Our little van was equipped with Nokian Hakkapeliittas and front wheel drive. It handled really well in snow. It was getting about 27 miles to the gallon on the highway.

I made a couple of deliveries in town and the streets were awful. The snow was coming down at such a rate that the snowplows couldn't keep up. Then I began the long trek to the Adirondacks, fifty miles to rhe southwest. Surprisingly, the state roads outside the city weren't too bad. My route was snow-covered but a fresh layer of salt and sand had been laid down. Finding traction was easy. Still it paid to be careful. 

A co-worker on another job once told me that in snow it is best to drive like there is a fresh egg under the gas pedal and the brake pedal. Never press either pedal with enough pressure to break the egg. The co-worker who gave me that advice was an elderly woman who worked in the accounting office. She was about as sweet and unassuming as a human being can be. Plus she was good with figures. Her advice to me was sage advice that I have never forgotten.

I got the flowers to the inn pretty much when expected. The innkeeper informed me that the bride would be most happy with the timing and the quality of the product. I replied that we weren't going to let a few snowflakes stand in the way of a happy bride. She thanked me once again and I started my return journey.

On the way back to the shop I passed two large cornfields. The one on the left had recently been saturated with cow manure from the dairy farm next door. It was seeping up and coloring the snow brown. A huge flock of crows was feasting on the morsels they could find in the manure and snow compote. Another huge flock of crows waited patiently across the road in the other cornfield for their turn at the smorgasbord. Some very large crows oversaw the operation from some trees above the road. I supposed it was their job to manage the flow of crows. There seemed to be plenty of food to go around so the crows weren't fighting for scraps. We humans could learn a lot from crows.

Crow boss


Comments

  1. Randy HughesJuly 21, 2024 at 9:06 PM

    Hi Mike, Just read on Morris Berman's blog you are from Kpt, me too! Please email me at mongo_hughes@yahoo.com Please delete this comment after you respond. Look forward to chatting with you

    ReplyDelete

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