My Brother and the Buzzard

When I was a kid we lived on a farm. I recall one time that my brother took a shot at a buzzard flying over. He actually didn’t think he would hit it, since he was just aimlessly shooting, but he did and killed it. It fell down on top of our roof! Well, buzzards are nasty animals and eat road kill and any dead thing they can find. We had a cistern and the rainwater ran off the roof, into the gutters, and into the cistern.

My Dad made my brother get on the roof and remove the buzzard and unhook the gutter drains and then wash the roof! My brother was so mad! It was his fault but somehow he blamed the buzzard.

My brothers are all great guys! That same brother and some years later, they decided to clean out the cistern. I remember after they pumped all the water out and he was down in there. I yelled down and asked him what was down there. He said, “There’s chicken bones, dirt, and I don’t know what all. And there’s about to be puke!” Poor guy! He managed to get it cleaned out without upchucking after all!