The Raven.

I was watching a raven yesterday sitting on the peak of our roof just above the back door. Not sure what he was doing. His beak was going back and forth, back and forth through the mound of snow where he sat.

Then he managed to gracefully lift that big black hulk of a body up and into what seemed like an effortless glide to the spruce tree next door. Plop. Landed right on a little branch and down it went....and back up it came.....down it went.....and back up it came. It was a bit like he was enjoying a ride on a pogo stick.

The bobbing up and down stopped. He sat there, opened his black ravenous beak and started scooping up beaks full of snow. Now, I've seen ravens sitting in various places.... atop light standards, on the edges of huge garbage cans, up on snow banks, in the middle of the road, in the backs of half ton trucks....sitting there looking for the best chunks of garbage around, but I have never, ever in my entire life seen them have a drink of water.

It reminded me of when I was a kid. We used to go out to play in the wintertime and not wanting to go into the house for a drink of water, we would just scoop up a mouth full of snow and that was that. Quenched thirst.

Now maybe that raven wasn't really drinking. It could have been some kind of ritual, but be ding danged if it didn't look like a kid out there playing in the tree and having a "quick drink" from the snow.

They are fascinating birds. I love to watch them. Their colors too, are magnificent. All the iridescent shades and hues of their plumage show just how beautiful they really are.

No. They are not just big ugly black birds flying around eating garbage.

They are splendidly gracious and beautiful animals created for us to appreciate and enjoy.

Once again, God gets a big, huge check mark for that one......The Raven!!!!