Silly Geese

Driving west on Buffalo Road in North Chili is an "en-lightening" experience these days. Not only do the telephone poles (do they still call them that?) sport lighted Christmas wreaths, but most of the houses and businesses are decorated for Christmas with colored lights. The landscaping business is totally outlined in white and red, the hair salon mostly white, Pearce Church has its share of decorations and the campus is resplendent with white lighted trees, snowflake decorations outlined with white lights hanging in the Cultural Life Center and Rinker. It's "de-lightful".



It is because of the additional amount of light that a weird and eerie scene greeted my eyes as I drove home in the early and already dark evening. I glanced briefly at the pond, now silent of the spraying fountain which has been turned off to avoid frozen pipes. There, floating quietly on the semi-frozen surface was strewn an entire gaggle of geese. Not one peep or honk could be heard. Just the dark forms bobbing slightly on the left hand side of the pond where the ice had not yet formed.



I blinked and took a second look. What were they doing there, those silly geese? Normally they rest on the center of the track where there is some shelter from the wind and where unsuspecting insects present gourmet opportunities alongside the still green grasses. They weren't fishing or bathing or even interacting with each other. It appeared as if they were settled in for the night and were sleeping.



Did their mothers never tell them to stay out of the freezing water? What if they got frozen into the lake overnight? How silly would that be? I shook my head in wonderment as I drove past. Who would have thought geese wintered in ponds in Rochester. Shouldn't they already be well on their way to warmer climes?