Bird Alert!

I grew up in one of those John Mellencamp Small Towns in Indiana (population 16,000 - sah-LUTE!). Our house was in an older residential neighborhood, about two blocks from "downtown", i.e. within walking distance of EVERYTHING - the ice cream parlor, the cinema, the local five-and-dime, the post office, and the library. The region is fairly flat, so we used to walk, roller skate, ride our bikes, etc., pretty much all over town. My best friend (the BF you met recently) and I would spend equal amounts of time at the library and the cinema (I remember the two of us walking to the theater to see the first STAR WARS movie when it was released in July 1977).

Now, there are a fair number of tiny fowl indigenous to Indiana, and one of the funny stupid games we used to play was when these little birds would fly overhead while we were walking, we'd throw our hands up to shield ourselves and yell, "Bird Alert!"

You laugh, but the truth is that later in my life I became the victim of a fly-by pooping. I was in college, and was on my way to take a final exam. I walked under a tree, and ... SCHPLUT!! ... on my head, down the side of my neck, and onto my shoulder. Yeah, gross. The friend who was with me was laughing her butt off. I didn't have time to go back to the dorm and change, so I had to duck into the bathroom at Ballantine Hall and clean up as best I could before taking my final. I made sure I sat well away from the other students during the exam so they would be spared having to take their finals with eau de birdie-doo permeating their nostrils.

On my morning walk yesterday, I purposely went a couple of feet out of my way to avoid walking directly under a bird perched on one of the phone wires overhead. Today, for some reason I was more aware of the sounds around my neighborhood. The Dog-eluia Chorus wasn't quite in full swing (it was early), but the birds were up. Living where we do now, we have quite a different menagerie than we had where I grew up. There is a pair of groshawks who hunt around midday in our subdivision. One will fly from utility pole to utility pole while its mate circles continuously. I don't know enough about them to know which is the male and which is the female, but it's a fascinating process to watch.

But I'm always careful to not walk directly under them.

I have been making great strides on the WIP over the last couple of days. Today the WGH is at work, The Tall One has both basketball and volleyball practices, and The Boy is helping his aunt with some around-the-house chores, so Little Bit and I have the place to ourselves. She's busying herself with DVDs and books (halle-frickin'-luia), so I have the day ahead of me to get this @#$%&*! draft finished.

Music of the Moment: Nicolai Rimsky Korsakov, The Sea and Sinbad's Ship (from Scheherazade)

You can just hear the waves crashing against the sides ... blood-pumping inspiration, yeah, that's the ticket.

Read a book. It's good for you.

=) JB