Who wants to go fly the birds?

Amazingly enough, this was a common question asked in my house when I was growing up.

Almost every morning while we were in CA for Thanksgiving, the boys all woke up at the crack o' dawn to fly my Dad's falcons. To "fly the birds" my Dad packs up the birds and the gear and goes out to the desert. He releases the birds then they fly back to him for their breakfast. He either has food for them in a leather "lure" or the birds actually catch some little critter on their own. It's very cool to watch.

Andrew was dying to catch a hawk so he could bring one home and be just like Grandpa. I said he could try to catch one with Grandpa, but he probably couldn't take it home. He was pretty devastated to learn that he needed to be 16 and have a license. I'm not quite ready to have hawks and falcons in my grown-up life, so I'm grateful for the law for now. But, they sure are pretty. . .

I'm not sure if Andrew is yawning or in complete awe and his jaw was just locked in that position throughout the whole experience.

Good catch, Tashina XX (sorry, private joke.)

Falconry is a cool hobby/passion, and I've grown up with it my whole life. But, before you run to PetSmart and pick up your very own bird of prey, I must warn you, falconry does come with some drawbacks. I'll tell you a little story to illustrate this point:

It was my 17th birthday and all my friends were at my house. We were all gathered in the kitchen for the birthday-cake-candle-blowing-out-ritual. After I blew out my candles and spit my gum out on the cake in the process, my friend offered to get the ice cream out of the freezer. Suddenly, he turned around and in his hand, he was holding a frozen, black and white mouse/rat type of creature. He got a kick out of this rare treasure and made sure all the girls who were there got a really good look at it. Of course, none of us Stewart girls even flinched at the rat hovering so close to our face we could see its tiny nails on its stiff, rubbery toes. We probably even called out to our Dad, "Hey Dad, do you want me to put this rat in the fridge so it will be thawed for tomorrow?" Obviously, my parents were more creative than simply embarrassing us by showing old pictures of us in diapers.

So yes, frozen animals I can handle. Just don't get too attached to little white bunnies. . .