When Turkeys Fly

It's been 100 degrees and humid, and when we got home last night, all of the plants were wilting.  Also, somewhat oddly, it was quite windy, and there were branches down all over the yard.  We went out back to inspect the vegetable garden, and found our largest and fastest growing cherry tomato plant on its side. 

As I looked over the rest of the garden, something felt remiss, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.  And then one of these fell from the sky. 

And then another one.  And we looked up.

Can you see him?  How about here?

Or here?

He was about 60 feet up there, so kind of hard to see, but we photographed him for a while, wondering if he was stuck.  We see turkeys in our yard almost every day, and I've seen them run FAST, and I've seen them fly over a stone wall, but I've never seen one 60 feet up in a tree.  Should we call Animal Control to save him?  Would they care?  I also began to wonder if he was responsible for the toppled tomato plant, or even eating the edamame, which I had blamed on the deer.  Did he fly up there because I startled him, because he was guilty?  If so, I would be content leaving him there.   After a while he mustered up the courage (or got tired of being photographed), and made a break for it, rather adeptly. 

Okay, that's a really poor action shot, but it's all we've got.  He flew across our yard and our neighbors yard into another tree of equal height.  We went about restaking our tomato, vowing to get cages next year.

Sometimes I wonder if all of the trouble is worth it, when things just don't grow, or the vegetables you were looking forward to eating get eaten by bugs or large animals first, or when you have to spend half an hour in the late evening being mauled by mosquitos while you carefully tie up tomato vines.  It totally makes sense that we have grocery stores.  But then I get to see a turkey in a tree.  And every once in a while there's the excitement of finding something new. 

Itty, bitty eggplants!  There are about a half a dozen of them, and the biggest is only an inch and a half long, at best, but I think they've grown since last night.  I wish I could remember what variety they are.  I usually save the tags, but I can't find this one.  I think they were called "fancy."  I plan to keep a close eye on them, and harvest a few small ones as soon as they're big enough to eat.

Have a great weekend!