Back home

Journey
Abby and I have been stumbling through the first few days back home. Our schedules are off and we feel a wee bit disoriented. New places, different time zone, different people..... The flight went well. The worst for me was when Abby insisted on running around the Anchorage airport for the entire 6 hour layover. Then we only slept three hours on the flight to Indianapolis. Then we had what seemed like a three hour drive to Dayton (only 1.5). I am just glad we made it safely.

Background

My parents have moved out of our family house. In case you didn't know my parents were rehabbers. I grew up in an inner city historic neighborhood (South Park), which started out as crack central, and slowly changed to half-crack border zone because people like my parents restored homes.

We moved into the big behemoth on Park Dr. boulevard. It had no bathrooms, no kitchen, etc. There were even used needles in one bathroom as it had been a nursing home at one point. We lived in one common room (a hot plate, TV, and table) and of course bedrooms for about 6-9 months. It slowly became a beautiful overly grand residence. Although most definitely not rich, I felt like it. The house was so big and had some pretty cool features. The front parlor fireplace had full oak ionic columns with a large beveled mirror. There was an entire stairway room with wrap around stairs. A lovely backyard with fish ponds they rebuilt like fours times to get them to work right, a tree that arches over the yard because it must have been blown over yet still managed to grow to full size, and flowers.

Anyway, due to economic pressures they had to move. They are currently and temporarily living in a renovated Victorian school. I used to live here! It's strange to be back in the same building. Who knew?! Fancy tin ceilings, a real slate chalkboard, wainscoting, huge windows and doors, and nice details overall (brickwork on the exterior, etc.). So, perhaps needless to say at this point, although I am not at "home" as I knew it, I am still quite comfortable. Also, our family dog Gideon passed away last year, and they have a new dog who is quite nice so I am not missing him as much as I thought either.

First Few Days
One of the first excursions Abby and I made was to the National Airforce Museum. Abby said airplane every time we saw an airplane. Let's just say I know she knows the word as we saw a lot of airplanes. Of course we spent most, well practically all of our time in the WWII gallery.

Today we all went to Wegerzyn Gardens where there are not only fabulous gardens, but a whole interactive area for kids - I am talking like a half acre or so and it seems bigger as there are so many plants and so much to do. Waterfalls kids can play in, fake caves, outdoor musical instruments, large table sandboxes with all kinds of sand toys, and a whole lot more.

Food has also been another highlight. Corn, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes so sweet I ate them with nothing on them, no salt or anything. Delicious. Another "of course" is that I got to eat Indian food!!! Oh how I love thee. The bummer is that I think I have a dairy allergy, so it may very well be the last time I eat Graeter's "French pot" ice cream, have yummy tomato creamy Nav Rattan Korma, Amish cheese and butter - I could go on and on. Starting tomorrow I have to stop eating dairy for a few weeks to figure this out. I could pay for a blood test, but think I will try the free version first to see if my symptoms go away.

Iki

I thought for sure I wrote about iki before, but can't find it. No, iki is not icky, but rather the opposite. The way the Japanese concept was explained to me is that it is a feeling of anticipation, in a good way. The events leading up to the culmination, e.g. the moments before a kiss, the moment before you jump out of an airplane. Once you hit the ground it's over. It's all those fuzzy feelings, which tend to go away after the whatever action. Today my friends, iki is a good thing, and I look forward to more iki-ness.

Claws, spit, and fur

Tufts of fur at the bottom of the stairs - this is what is leftover from Lucky's wild night. He apparently snuck out, and when I saw him this morning he looked like he had been up on an all night binge, of cat fighting! He is an old crotchety guy. I admire that.

Caught in the moment

Notice the vampire-like canines.

Photography can be funny. It captures people in mid-expression. I haven't taken pictures in so long that I didn't realize how much Abby has grown. Here she is visiting me at work.

V

I just finished V for Vendetta. Needles to say, the movie was quite different. I actually had no idea it was a graphic novel (like a comic, at times comical).

Likes: Helen Heyer. Wow, what a psychopathic man-beater :)
V. Although his dramatic and mysterious nature in the movie is more pleasing than his crossword puzzle-type of mystery in the book.

Dislikes: Evey Hammond. The author made her obtuse and the artist made her ugly beyond her years. I am supposed to believe V loves her? Maybe I am more like Helen. I would’ve knocked her tooth out.
Crossword puzzle plot. I guess I am like Evey, I had a hard time following it sometimes.

Obsolescence

Word of the day, word of the week, or word of my life?
Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when a person, object, or service is no longer wanted even though it may still be in good working order. Obsolescence frequently occurs because a replacement (or another person) is available that is superior in one or more aspects.

Pretend Working Works!

Today I found out the the photo of me "pretend working" will be blown up into a poster and used at conferences throughout the country!!! Look for me in your town!

Lucky

One green eye, one blue eye, all white, deaf, and I want to say dumb, but I know otherwise. How did I get dickturd? One cold winter day, Shawen Jr., then abo. 12, let him run in Rita’s (Jr.’s grandma’s) house. He weighed just four pounds or so, had frost bite on his ears and nose, worms, and some kind of gross skin condition. He didn’t come out of his padded cardboard box for weeks.

Over time he gained strength, started fighting with Venus (Shawen’s other cat), and rekindled his habit of meowing for food, constantly. Shawen did not like this. Suddenly, I had a new cat. Seven or eight years later he’s still here. The mewing persists and he won’t seem to go away.

He has a killer instinct. He wants to kill most living things besides human, only because we feed him. There is this cat that would come around all winter. They would fight – claws scratching, hissing and spit spraying, fur on all ends flying all over – through a glass door.

The other day they had the opportunity to go at it for real. I was busy trying to clean up the other cat's pee (Shawen's cat), and I accidentally left the door open. Since it is warm, Lucky meandered out. The cat was around. The next thing I know I hear cats yelling and hissing, but it broke up quick. I went to shut the door when I noticed blood splatter on the porch. Lucky fucked that cat up. He still has his claws. Don’t worry, I saw the cat yesterday. Lucky tried to jump off the porch to fight with him again. The cat is fine.

Ah, to be young again......

Well, it looks like I was once having fun. Check out those skinny thighs! And I should mention I was modeling, i.e. being asked to pose.

Miss Twin Peaks

NAGPRA

If you don't know it, learn it - Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. I am afraid it is the least enjoyable yet most satisfying part of my job at the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository. WARNING: Graphic descriptions below!

I first found out the museum cared for remains when I was checking the locations of collections. I opened one of the cabinets under the collections room table (my very long desk). I got on my knees, opened a drawer, and right in front of my face was a skull (with it's mouth open, like a scream). The mandible was simply separated, but that was that initial impression. Someone had obviously made a mistake in recording locations, and I simply just hadn't gotten far enough in my exploration of collection records to know about that particular cabinet. It's one of those memories that kinds of sticks with you.

I know what you may be thinking, but the museum is not hording bones. Rather, many of these remains were picked up along eroding beaches by visitors to the island (fisherman, etc.), saved from otters using them in their nest, and carefully excavated after communication with tribes. The museum has offered them a temporary home, dedicating a quite space for these people until they are hopefully all reburied. Since I have been there, the Deputy Director and I worked on publishing NAGPRA notices of inventory completion, a process that takes over a year. The museum was awarded a grant from the National Park Service to bring ANSCA corporation and tribal representatives together for NAGPRA training, raising awareness about Alutiiq remains not only in the Alutiiq Museum, but those around the U.S.

Earlier this month remains of five individuals were reburied, and there is one more repatriation request pending, which I hope can be taken care of this weekend. That's what I worked on for a brief, yet agonizing time today. Matter of fact, it is necessary to place the remains in a box. It is not a responsibility I take lightly. Unfortunately, I think it is taking a toll. Today, when I went to place the remains in a box, I noticed that the cranium had something like toilet paper in it so it would keep it's shape. It had to go. I will say no more!

Hermitage

http://manchesterhermit.wordpress.com/

Love of Life

Abby has this insatiable passion for exploring the world. Every day is exciting and new. She plays so hard at daycare that she exhausts her little self.
Shawen and I were lamenting that we have lost this passion. Every day is “exactly the same”, in the sense that the feeling of anticipation, that new day sun shining feeling just isn’t in there. At some point, although perhaps not meant to be so, we loose it. I hope to get it back. The question is: How much yoga will it take?

White Alice

A government project name White Alice? It sounds ominous, and it looks a little menacing, but actually it was just a communications system. In the early 1950’s, during the Cold War, the tropospheric* communications system was built in Alaska for an improved communications network. The trademark of White Alice was large, square billboard-like antennas scattered across the Alaskan landscape. The original 25 White Alice stations required three years to construct, with the first station becoming operational in 1956. The Kodiak station was on top of Pillar Mountain. It was dismantled in 1997. I wish I could have seen it.

*I think this is the correct definition, but maybe I am making it up!
Tropospheric scatter (or troposcatter) is the scattering of distant TV and FM radio stations by the troposphere so that they travel farther than the line of sight. This effect sometimes allows reception of stations up to a hundred miles away.

The inside of White Alice.

I think this is the station in Bethel - I just liked the pic.

On top of Pillar Mountain.

Photos courtesy of the Kodiak Military History Museum and the donor, Mr. Fletcher.

Flowers

Green and puple grass, simple is fine.

Here's more of the local weeds.

On my evening walks with Abigail I have been seeing sooooo many flowers! Some of the fireweed is already blooming and nearing the top. When it reaches the top it is a sign "summer" is over. I think, and hope, it is just confused by all of our sunny weather.

Abigail asks me to pick each different kind of flower she sees. She doesn't understand I just can't go picking people's flowers, although sometimes I break down to keep her from crying. Anything in public space is fair game though.

I really like the grasses, and although not local I love poppies. I like how the petals are paper-like and translucent. I also got to smell lilac for the first time in three years. Somehow I never noticed that lilacs grow here.

Pretend working

I have a stock of photos of staff pretending to work. It's amazing how many requests we get for pics of us doing our daily tasks.

Here I am posing with a box I am particularly proud of.

I do not pretend work, in fact, I have been very busy the past few months. I know I don't write about work, but it's pretty much the only reason I am in Kodiak. It's surely not because of the weather! Working in a small museum is great, I get to do a lot. It also means I have a lot to do! Overall, it's all good. I manage the collections, yadda yadda, except, it's not just managing any ol'regular collection. First, what makes the Alutiiq Museum special is the fact that we are an archaeological repository, as our name implies. We do not own most of the collections, we are the steward. And we do a level of outreach and are involved in the Kodiak Is. communities, in fact the world, in ways that are not typical of most museums. I'll talk more about these things later. I have to start at the beginning....

I was originally hired to complete a two-year extremely comprehensive registration project: researching over 100 different plots of land to determine ownership, get legal paperwork from donors and lenders, complete loan agreements with native corporations, federal, state, municipal agencies, re-do a part of storage with adding more drawers (which of course meant I had to appropriately catalog, store and document those collections), enter coll. info into Past Perfect museum software, etc. In this process I also worked with our Dep. Dir. to complete NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) Notices of Inventory Completion for human remains and funerary objects in our care (there's still a few left to do).

After my two-year project was up, they some how decided they could tolerate me and I continued to work on the project, but also worked on the formation of the Kodiak Alutiiq Repatriation Commission. While not very functional, it definitely has helped raise awareness about repatriation. One village submitted a repatriation request earlier this year, and three groups are working together to submit a joint claim, so yeah, Alutiiq ancestors are actually going to be reburied this year!!! I have been working on NAGPRA for three years, and I don't really want to work in a graveyard, so respectfully reburying these people is quite satisfying.

I'll write more about my work later. There is stil way more to brag about - because we rock! (I intend to fully prove this point.)

Surfing in the USA

I was hoping the Shawens and Abby and I would go out to Surfing Beach together before Jr. left, but Jr. was mad at me and Sr., well, was unmotivated by Jr. and my bickering. I decided then that Abby and I would go, or at least we would head out that way. I get there, Abby has just fallen asleep in the back finally(!), and as I pull into the parking area another car pulls in right behind me, a little on my ass. I pull over, stop, and plan on sitting there, letting Abby sleep for awhile. I am in no hurry.

The other car is blasting metal, I mean blasting (I didn't know Escorts has such loud speakers). This irritates me because I just drove an hour to get away from noise, but Abby seems to be sleeping well, so whatever. I sit there. The two occupants are very aware of my presence, and kind of try to hide their beer drinking, but then they figure they better check me out to make sure I am not calling the cops I guess (of course I have no cell and if people leave me alone then whatever), so the guy comes up and knocks on my window, wakes up Abby, and asks for food. I say ok, he goes away for a moment. They proceed to smoke something out of a pipe that is not pot. They scraped the bowl with a freakin animal butchering knife, which hello, this is Kodiak, but crap, I am thinking fuck do I just leave? But this is Kodiak, not a lot of bad things happen here, and while they are deranged, they seemed fairly harmless, and I am apparently stupidly stubborn.

Abby and I eat, the driver leaves, leaving the guy who knocked on my window there. Abby and I are eating in the car, and the guy comes back and says he'll give me a bottle of perfume if I give him food. I say ok to the food and tell him he doesn't have to give me the perfume, but he gives it to me anyway. He says he stole the perfume from his mom. Great. I give him him food, he asks for the perfume back so he can start a fire, and says some other weird things. He seems happy to get the food, and thus, I decide that we will stay.

Abby and I hit the beach, with all of my id and cards, work keys, etc. We play around on the beach for awhile, good fun. Low tide, not sunny, but fairly warm despite the occasional plop of raindrops on the head, and of course there's no one else out there.

We go back to the car. Expectedly, Abby has a wet sandy butt, so I want to change her diaper and pants. I see the guy heading back my way. Ahhh. I am racing to get her pants back on so I can get out of there! Her feet are wet, I am fumbling because I am trying to move fast, I get her in the car seat and there he is. He asks if I have any more food. He leans on my car (he is drunk and just can barely stand), but in my mind he is trapping me there. I firmly tell him I have to go. He finally stumbles away and I leave!

This is by no means a scary story for me, especially coming from Cincinnati, but something I would not expect on Kodiak, in the afternoon, at a remote beach!

Everybody is doing it.

If they haven't done it, they're doing it now, going on top of Pillar to see the wind turbines. Sorry, still not figured out why pics upload out of order, nor how to reorder them.

If you know me, then you know my house and work are there - just a stone throws away.

Looking towards Gibson Cove and the Base.

The Near Is. harbor Dog Bay.

The lens cover gets stuck, and sometimes I forget to open it manually.

Scale is definitely not captured here.

Not such good light for a pic of Abby and I, but shows scale.

My baby is cute

My baby is cute. My baby is cute! My baby is cute!!!

Sorry, but my baby IS cute!

One Year Later

One year later, or so. For some reason, pics upload out of order..... Here is Abby abo. 9 mos. at White Sands.

Here is Abby abo. 6 mos. at White Sands.

Here is the fam. two weeks ago at White Sands. In case you haven't heard Jr. is leaving. Means more work for me, but spending less $$!

Trying to put something up daddy's nose. She says "nose" now, and no.

Wow, big phallus atop Pillar. May not look big from the pics, but size is relative - it's huge!

That's it!

This is it.

I was researching Palau and when I read this on someone's' blog - "Saturday was another beautiful and sunny day." - I made up my mind. I want something like this in my future.

Ha ha, I'm in paradise and you're not! Well, not really, but it looks nice, eh? This is about 10pm btw.

It's finally Spring. Here's the proof. Keep in mind I was wearing long underoos on Monday.

Freaky thick fog rolled in the other night. It may not look so impressive in the pic, but I assure you it was neat.  It was all the talk the next day.

Wai Lana = kick my a$$ (women's special)

I have been doing yoga since about March.  On Sat. mornings (way before I wake up) is yoga with Wai Lana on PBS.  I tape it and have been doing it several days a week before lunch.  I LOVE IT! I really feel like I am shaping up, and boys, don't knock it until you try it.  Shawen was making fun of yoga and was playing around pretending to do "duck walking" and pulled his groin, so......

Anyway, the past four episodes have been pregnancy and after birth specials.  Boy, if I had just been doing those when I was preggers and after, I would be in much better shape.  I also would have been more equipped to give birth.  She concentrates on strengthening the pelvic floor, which is good for women anytime so I still have been doing the asanas, and she does the exercise where you squeeze the muscles down there in a way I can understand.  I read in numerous publications on how to do that, and although I kind of could, I would always forget, anyway, she just does these really great exercises in a manner safe for pregnant women.  I seriously highly recommend checking it out.  She actually makes me feel like gee, maybe I could do that birth thing. 

Touch O’ Green, Crab Fest, Turds, and Dickens

I finally finished Oliver Twist last week. It only took a letter from the library reminding me it was way way overdue. Wait, I mentioned Dickens last in the blog title, well, as homage to Dickens I’ll start with the last first, and work my way through the plot (blog entry) as I please.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading it. The movies are similar, but they’ve altered a few major plots, in some ways okay, but in some ways not so good. First, I think they indicate Nancy betrays Oliver, she does not. Also, at the end when Sikes is running after he murders Nancy, Oliver is not with him, in fact, unlike the two film versions I’ve seen, he does not get captured after he gets shot.

Dickens uses fancy words, here’s some I didn’t know:
Imprecations
Profligacy
Loquacious
Assiduity
Paroxysm
Ineffable
Rueful
Propensity

Taken out of context the words don’t seem as fancy as they are in the sentences. Here are some chopped up sentences:
'Wolves tear your throat!'……As Sikes growled forth this imprecation, with the most desperate ferocity that his desperate nature was capable of,…

With many loquacious assurances that they would be agreeably surprised in the aspect of the criminal,….

The doctor then communicated, in reply to multifarious questions from his young friend, a precise account of his patient’s situation; which was quite as consolatory and full of promise,…

He applied himself, with redoubled assiduity, to the instructions of the white-headed old gentleman,….

‘Your prerogative!’ sneered Mrs. Bumble, with ineffable contempt.

…., Mr. Bumble took his hat from a peg, and putting it on, rather rakishly, on one side, as a man might, who has felt he had asserted his superiority in a becoming manner, thrust his hands into his pockets, and sauntered towards the door, with much ease and waggishness depicted in his whole appearance.

Why only parts of sentences? Well, they can be quite long. The first sentence in Chapter XXVII is a full 16 lines long.

Mostly, I like Dickens’ descriptions, some are really graphic:
It was a cheerless morning when they got into the street; blowing and raining hard; and the clouds looking dull and stormy. The night had been very wet: large pools of water had collected in the road: and the kennels were overflowing. There was a faint glimmering of the coming day in the sky; but it rather aggravated than relieved the gloom of the scene: the somber light only serving to pale that which the street lamps afforded, without shedding any warmer or brighter tints upon the wet housetops, and dreary streets. There appeared to be nobody stirring in that quarter of town; the windows of the houses were all closely shut; and the streets through which they passed, were noiseless and empty.

As you can see in this crappy pic of Pillar Mountain taken out back, me leaning over the railing, is a li’ touch o’ green pokin’ through yesteryear’s dead grass. The image of Pillar Mountain is about to dramatically change – we’re getting wind turbines right atop Pillar. You can see an artist rendering on KEA’s website www.kodiakelectric.com, but I don’t see any specific info, which I was hoping to find.

Crab Fest – yeah! Oh wait, it rained. Nevermind. Never did get any crab. It sold out everytime we went. I had plenty of kettle corn though!
Also, I entered the Crab Fest art show, even though the piece pictured below (not Ohr's, below that) did not turn out. Disappointing. Oh well. I sold just one piece. I am still a broke artist! At what point do I give up?

The other evening ago I was changing Abby’s diaper, and she didn’t want it back on. Since it was almost time for bed, and to let her butt air out, I just let her run around nude. I do this in the evening sometimes. This time was special. She was playing, and I started talking to Jr., and then he said ‘Oh my G--, what is that?!’ pointing to the floor. It looked like small dog turds. Oh wait, its Abby turds!!! I laughed and laughed. I was laughing so hard Abby was looking at me funny. I guess she was playing, squatted, and let it out.
Every time she poops I tell her, “Abby, you’re supposed to say Mommy, I went poop.” No luck yet.

Mustache Aficionado

Shawen had to go to Anchorage yesterday, and since he had several hours before his appointment, he got a bus pass and went downtown. He was walking around and noticed several men with very interesting mustaches - long ones sticking straight out, long handlebars, styled beards, and they were people of different nationalities as he noticed by their accents- one was Australian, one German, etc. Lo and behold there was an International Mustache and Beard convention. There was a parade and everything. I cannot believe I missed this! I am sooo disappointed. Mustaches are fun. Check out George Ohr's.

Pots by George Ohr, made sometime between 1879-1910. He liked to haphazardly apply glaze, so someone said he said. Often they are streaky, but bright. He also used gunmetal, and many other glazes. Towards the end he was doing unglazed pieces. He reported amde tens of thousands of pots. His first pottery burned down and he lost abo. 10,000 pieces. He of course got and refined his own clay from the river. At certain points, Joseph Meyer was also in the pottery.

George Ohr, the Greatest Potter on Earth (or Elsewhere)

Shawen had walked quite a ways yesterday. He said that people were kind of looking at him funny. I said, "Shawen, you're wearing that stupid camouflage sweatshirt. There's no such thing as a limping hunter!"

Shawen was still limping by the time he got back to the airport, and since he had even more time to kill he went through security to eat dinner. He had been walking for so long that his feet, and subsequently his shoes were hot. He was taking them off at security and said, "Man, my shoes are smoking!" Shawen looked up at the security person with an 'oh crap, what did I just say expression?!' The TSA guy just looked at him and rolled his eyes.

Toys? Books? Furniture?

Anyone have any old toys, books, or children's furniture they don't want anymore? Abby will take it!

An eerie fog rolled in yesterday sunny afternoon.

This type of pic is what every family in Kodiak has posted on their blog right now - beach time! This is not a common pic for Abby, she does not sit. Only to eat. That is it. Oh, and when I take her on a walk in the stroller.  I take her on a walk just to make her sit.  It calms her down and I exercise - win win.

Abby will not let me wash her hair, well, she did, but she screamed and cried, not in a I'm defying you way, but in a I am terrified way. I think this may take years to solve. I wish I hadn't let it get so bad, but what do I know about the horrors of getting water in the eyes? I had no idea it scared her that bad. Not fun. Zoila put her hair up - too cute! - too bad Abby won't let ME do it.

Omg, could this be an actual Brownie family portrait?

Old Harbor

I spent that least few days in the Village of Old Harbor. I have been here three years and had not been to a village, but I got to go this year because I am working on gathering legal paperwork for the BIA and I had a very short but necessary meeting with the tribal council about NAGPRA. It is Alutiiq weeks in the villages and this year's project is model kayaks. I sanded some model kayak parts while I was there, and watched Alfred and the other elder men, i.e.. Sven, put the models together.

We had great weather. I didn't really get to do much though. No hiking or exploring or anything like that. I was mostly at the school. And when I was done with my project I left. I did get to eat sea lion. Yes, they are an endangered species, but natives can still hunt them for subsistence. I also had really fresh king crab, and lots of fish.

On the flight back I got an extended tour. The flight went to Akhiok and then back to Kodiak. It was great to be able to see the south end of the island. I didn't think I was ever going to be able to see it with my own eyes. I only know it by maps. We landed in Akhiok and the really fabulous pilot Eddy arranged for me to go to the school and see some old Russian Orthodox icons, papers, and books that are in a display case there. We then took off and I got to see Olga Bay, Cape Alitak, and Aiulik peninsula. There were TONS of game trails. Holy cow. I saw one bear moseying along. It is gorgeous down there. If it was warmer I would seriously live there! Although all the bear trails were a bit intimidating.

Near Cape Alitak there is this big long spit, it was really neat formation, it looked like paradise. Sorry, no pictures of anything, I forgot my camera! I took it out of my bag to get a pic of Abby, and forgot to put it back in! Not sure a pic would capture my enthusiasm about being able to see that part of the island. On the way back I also got to see where the villages of Kaguyak and Eagle Harbor were, also got to see Refuge Rock. Kaguyak was destroyed by the 1964 tsunami. They had just finished building a new church, and it was all washed away.

Pandemonium

There was a rumor circulating that someone here in Kodiak got the swine flu, which was not true. Shawen and I were talking to a neighbor about it and Shawen joked around that in case of a pandemic when we run out of food we will have to eat people. He then realized his joke was not so funny, and said" wow, I have been playing way to much Resident Evil". Why is human cannibalism so taboo? There are several cultures that did / do eat other people. Other species also eat each other. The first time I saw an eagle I was in Pasagshak. I was looking at a bird and then an eagle swooped down and caught it. As I have been walking around town recently, e.g. Near Island, there are spots of decimated bird feathers, some of which are still attached to a bit of skin, gross, but the point is eagles eat other birds, and they are our national bird!
P.S. This post is supposed to be humorous, I am in no way condoning cannibalism.