the tower girl

THE TOWER GIRL

see the kxan.com article

at the university of texas there is a structure called the ut tower
sometimes it gets lit up with orange lighting at night
it can be seen easily as you drive down the interstate near the campus

the ut tower is better known for the ut tower shooting back in the 60s where the shooter climbed up in the tower and with a powerful rifle starting shooting folks on campus
not a good thing to be known for is it

it was closed for years
once a few years ago our friends he who had huntingtons disease before it got worse and she who after being a caregiver for his last years developed metastatic ovarian cancer not long after he died
but
on that ut tower day we all were feeling good that we would be able to climb that tower and look out over the austin city
this was a few years before the downtown high rise growth occurred

it was as my wife she says an amazing sight
but
a sobering one
thinking about what happened up there years ago

occasionally the news folks will relive the day of the ut tower shootings
the shooting i guess was a prediction of what was coming in the future
since
it seems it these shootings seem to be more common
almost accepted it seems
the outrage doesnt seem to be there like it use to be

now
the ut tower has something that gives it a more positive light
its the tower girl

she is a peregrine falcon that has set up home in the ut tower
they had set up a nesting box
she moved in
so far this year she has laid  several eggs
her male friend has stayed around to help
hopefully the eggs got fertilized

im sure they did some partying up above 6th street up in the air where they zoom around
looking for food
maybe
they also looked for love

here is the link to her falcon cam
at daybreak she is just sitting there looking around
hopefully
she will hatch some eggs or an egg and a new baby will appear

just now she started looking around as the sun just started hitting her nesting box
she stood up
took a couple of steps
stood on one leg like she was stretching or doing morning exercises
then
stepped forward standing on the other leg
raised her wings like she was stretching all over
looked down along the street
i figure shes looking for a starbucks for her first morning joe
then she jumped off and flew away
leaving
4 eggs visible in her nest

i sure hope they hatch
i sure hope her boyfriend stays around to help

i like this ut tower story better than the old one

the organicgreen doctor