The Unfortunate Crayfish

The thing that I love about Picture of the Day is that it helps me get out of my head and into the present moment. For example, I took the dogs for a walk on one of my favorite fields close to home. There is a stream that runs along the edge of the field. I wasn’t really on the lookout for the pix o’ day, but when I saw the remains of a crayfish on a pile of deer droppings, I knew that there was a story and picture. I can only imagine what happened. I would love to know your thoughts on the fate of this craw-daddy. Here’s mine:

I think that this crabby crayfish was cold, hungry, and grumpy on a warm January day. You can tell that he is the King Craw-Daddy of the stream because of the size of those claws! He crawled towards the pile of deer dung to see what delicacies he could find: bugs! Worms! Millipedes! Maggots? He fought off weaker crayfish the entire way to the steaming heap. When he arrived at the pile he was overwhelmed by his good fortune and he forgot himself in his gluttony.

While feasting on his marvelous meal, a fecund Coopers hawk flew over the field looking for small rodents. She spotted a minute movement in the tall grass along the stream and locked in on the mindless crayfish. Oh how she loved the salty taste of those crunchy crustaceans! She swooped down and decapitated the greedy crayfish, chewing the eyes, mouth and face with her sharp beak. She was ready to devour the rest of the crab when three very fat dogs came running along carelessly followed by a distracted, frizzy-headed biped with a camera . . .