Mr. Burns' Gift By Shirley A. Blair Keller ©2011-2021

Kaweah River Road walk was beautiful that morning. It was July and the mornings were barely cool, enough to get out early before the summer heat hit. The river was flowing quietly, river rocks glistened under the cover of water.

I saw Mr. Burns old VW bus coming up the road. I also noticed a couple walking a big dog toward me. Both vehicle and the couple reached me at the same time.

“Get in the car, Shirley,” Mr. Burns commands. “Scottie and Eddie, you too. I have something wonderful to show all of you.” There was a back and forth about the dog fitting in such a small space with all of us, but Mr. Burns exuberance overcame all objections and we piled in the back of the vehicle. Eddie, Scottie and I made introductions. They are new in town, built a house not far up the road from me, and have walked the dog daily. That is how they met Mr. Burns. Turned out they are birdwatchers, too.

Mr. Burns drove over the bumpy dirt road to the Catfish Farm and Parks. He wanted the dog left in the car because the dog would chase the wonderful surprise away. We walked quickly behind Mr. Burns into the Catfish Farm, past one pond after another. He pointed out birds along the way, but did not stop. That was unusual for him. He was so full of information that every step he had knowledge to pass, and as Eddie, Scottie and I had been doing since meeting him on the road, was to listen, to watch, to learn. He barely knew us, but we felt like best friends and it amazed us.

We arrived at the last pond on the left. He put his finger to his lips to tell us to be quiet. He whispered, “I sure hope it’s still here, after dragging you all this way.”  Then his face lights up. He points. 

A White-faced Ibis was hunting in the pond. Mr. Burns assured us this is a very unusual event. The bird was not known for coming this far inland. Why is it alone? They usually are in flocks.

“I didn’t want you to miss this,” Mr. Burns smiled.

My legs began to give me trouble, thus my walking had to stop. Diagnosed with warn out knees I was in line to have them replaced. In the few months that I didn’t walk daily on Kaweah River Drive, Mr. Burn’s age had began to catch up with him. And finally, he died a couple of months ago. He is missed every day.

When I think of next year at this time, both knees fixed, and I will resume my daily walks, checking out the birds, critters and plants, all learned about from Mr. Burns, it is hard to imagine he won’t meet me on the road, to share one adventure after another. And no longer are the Catfish Farm ponds filled with water that attracted different birds every season. The owners had been trying to sell to a developer and let the ponds dry up. So all we have left are the photos that captured the wonders.

In memory of Mr. Burns I will walk, listen, look, to witness the changes as they emerge, and if I am lucky capture them on camera. Hopefully, the critters and birds will figure out a way to continue to live here in Three Rivers, while we humans change the environment, sometimes for good, and sometimes not. Mr. Burns brought to my life birds, bird books, binoculars, trees and bushes and what they offer, how the sun begins migration for swallows, photography and camera, and most important, a friendship started on a dirt road in Three Rivers.

GREAT BLUE HERON

On another trip with Mr. Burns, after I just received the gift of a digital camera from my husband, who knew better than me the creative talent I had, we went back to the last pond at the Catfish Farm, after quite a long time identifying birds at all the other ponds. He spotted the bird. I picked up my new camera, never having taken one photo on it yet, and snapped this picture. 

I showed the image to Mr. Burns on the screen and he looked shocked. First, he thought the image beautiful and knew I was inexperiences in photography. He praised me, as if I knew what I was doing, which I did not. Luck. Second, a camera with a screen made possible to check ones shot was incomprehensible to him. He had the same camera for the past thirty or more years. It used film. He had to wait to see prints to make sure what he did was correct. He was an official photographer for the National Parks where ever he landed as a Park Ranger. I've seen the stacks of magazines his photos were featured in. He was seriously good. But digital? I cannot count the times he stopped me from using up my film and to remind me how expensive photography could be. I reminded him over and over this was digital. I could take a thousand photos to get maybe one good one, and delete the other 999. Costs nothing, a concept he never really got.

TURKEY BED & BREAKFAST

When Mr. Burns saw this image he laughed. He told me how clever I was. When I told him there was a show coming up. I could blow up, frame and try to sell this image in the show but I had grave doubts anyone would get it. He insisted I do it. This image not only sold in the show, but it won a blue ribbon the county fair. 

MAMA DUCK & BABES

On my way to meet Mr. Burns, camera in hand, binoculars hanging off my neck, I heard something. I looked over the side of the bridge. Climbing up on a rock was Mama Duck followed by her babies close behind. They had been swimming up stream in the river that was full of snow melt flowing down stream in its Spring rush to fill up Lake Kaweah. Mama was taking them back up river to live near the Gateway Restaurant. She had gone to Lake Kaweah to have her flock and now was returning to her home. I snapped this photo. She not only heard me but as I leaned to get the picture my shadow showed below on the rock. She looked up, squawked really loud, jumped back in the water before her young ones ever reached the rock and led them across river to continue their journey up river. I felt bad. Maybe she was getting them out of the river to rest and I interrupted her.