The Carrot and the Stick

First the stick....the boss wants me to go to Empire Farm Days with him. It's a brutal drive and once you get there you have to walk down miles of aisles of shiny farm machinery....miles....

I used to love to go, couldn't wait and all. It was fun to gather up the stud catalogs so we could choose the bulls we would use to breed the cows, always hoping for something really special next year. I loved the breed association booths, and seeing salesmen who had become friends, and the excitement of seeing it all. However, I am no longer 20, nor 30, not 40, nor 50. Not even 60.....walking all day in the hot sun in a muddy hay field has little appeal.

Still he is good to me and takes me birding almost every day. Since the beginning of the year we have counted 156 species of birds. That's the best ever for me and better than the whole year last year.

And then there's the carrot....if I suffer through the monumental horror trek up the terrifying length of the Thruway and walk through the mud to all those tractors and balers and all, he will take me around the Montezuma wildlife drive on the way home.

I looked at some recent checklists from there....we'll almost certainly see Pied Billed Grebes, Purple Martins, possibly Blue-winged Teal, Redheads, and who knows what else that I am missing for my state list this year....someone even spotted a Black-crowned Night Heron yesterday! I's sure like to see that.....And I could surely get a Farm Side column out of it....

So....do I go...or do I stay home and man the decks here? Hmm.......