Strange things have been known to happen in Kelly, WY. On sunday, July 5th, Eric was up early getting ready to leave for the Middle Kings. It was six in the morning when I first heard him scream, “Jess get up! There is a raven attacking me!” “What? Your crazy.” “No, Jess, get out of bed! There is a raven attacking me!” I pulled myself from my warm cozy bed to see what was going on. Sure enough there was a raven standing on our garbage can looking into the screen door. “Eric, it’s just a raven?” “No Jess, it’s attacking me!” I decided Eric was crazy and that I would go outside and face the raven. As soon as I opened the door, the raven let out a huge screech, took flight, and dive bombed me, talons first. I dashed back into the house, narrowly escaping the crazy bird.
Eric looked sick about it, “Maybe he’s trying to tell me I shouldn’t go kayaking?” I had just read a book about the beliefs of the Inuit, Alaskans (aka Eskimos). The Inuits believe that ravens are re-incarnated people. If there is one raven at your house, it is someone trying to tell you something. If there is more than one raven at your house for a prolonged period of time, it is a bad omen. “Maybe it is Jeffe trying to tell you something.” Eric looked at me like I was crazy. “Can’t you just scare it away?” “Maybe it’s hungry.” I decided to try to feed it.
The raven wasn’t hungry. He approached me, pretending to be hungry. When he was two feet away, he attacked. I ran back into the house for safety and started cracking up. “Maybe you shouldn’t go kayaking.” It finally dawned on us that we should let the dogs out to scare the raven away. AJ and Burley did the trick and the raven flew away. Eric and I laughed and wondered what was wrong with that crazy bird. Would he be back?
Yes! On tuesday, I was painting the trim of our house when the raven bummed rushed me. He flew directly at me screeching and talons pointed at my face. He scared the shit out of me. I dropped my brush and ran for cover. In the safety of my own home, I tried to decide what to do. I looked out the door and the raven was on the door step looking at me. Once again, I thought he might be hungry. Although, this time I was going to take some safety precautions. I grabbed the thickest sweatshirt I could find and the left-over elk meat from the night before. I walked to the door reminding myself to stay calm, animals can sense when you are nervous. At least horses can. I slowly emerged from the house, elk steak extended. The raven cocked his head from side to side. Would he attack? I really hoped not.
The raven hopped forward and took the meat from my hand. He was hungry. I was so excited and hoped I had just made a new friend. The raven finished his steak and then bummed rushed me again. I couldn’t believe it. I thought we had made a connection. Nope, he just wanted me to feed him. I ran inside and grabbed some more steak. This time I decided I would make him come to me. Armed with the steak, I sat down and waited.
He hopped over to me and eyed the steak. He jumped onto my left leg and grabbed the steak. All I could think was that this is so cool. He ate the steak while perched on my leg. I couldn’t believe it. After he finished his snack, he jumped to my other leg, looked at my toes, and then bit me. Damn raven! I screamed and jumped up. Nope! We weren’t friends yet.
Now I was determined to be friends with the raven. I watched him as he hopped around the porch checking everything out. He picked up a piece of rope and started tugging at it. Maybe he wants to play tug of war?
I grabbed the other end of the rope and pulled gently. Yep, he likes tug of war. This was the turning point in our new friendship. We played for a while. Eventually I was able to pull him close enough towards me that I could pet him. Talk about being scared. I wasn’t sure if he would let me pet him or bite my fingers off. He let me pet him and then eventually he hopped onto my arm. Crazy!
It was so cool! I had a raven on my arm. And not just any raven, the crazy bird that had attacked me a week earlier.
We were finally friends.
The raven kept stealing my sanding sponges, so I let him play with one of the dog toys. I think he liked it.
Eventually the raven grew tired of our new friendship and flew away.
Like I said, crazy things happen in Kelly, WY.
