Hark! Back! Issue #11

 March 25, 2008

"Charlie"

Revenge is sweet but embarrassing for teenage girls.

In retaliation for the huge rejection by "Pearl" the cockatiel I purchased "Charlie" a male parakeet.

Charlie loved me, he was my rock and roll bird. He loved the oldies and would bee bop in time with the music and sing his heart out.  "Please Mister Postman" was his very favorite song, he liked the version by The Shirelles the best, although versions by The Carpenters, The Beatles or The Marvelettes were acceptable. 

Charlie had one small problem, he would spread his wings, rub himself on his perch or on the bell of his mirror...making the most delightful sounds and he would sing on and on...

The girls were teenagers and they found my wonderful Charlie an embarrassment.  They would announce their displeasure. "M O T H E R your bird is doing it again."  "Mother, I would appreciate it if you could control your bird."  "Do you know how embarrassing he is?"  "I am having friends over and he is SO disgusting."  "Is that all he ever does?" 

They would announce their displeasure with us quite loudly and quite often giving Charlie the female attention he so desired....which in turn would excite him even more. So I usually had to apologize to their friends and explain that I was the owner of an oversexed avian and it was all my fault.  

Playing "Please Mister Postman" would jerk him back to reality and he would become  a rock and roll star once more, it seemed that bee bopping to the music stopped all avian sexual activity:)

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Charlie was a hoot...I adored that little bird.   He lived a good long time with us and then was rehomed with a Vet Tech gal when Far Guy retired from the Military and we moved all our belongings into storage and bought a camper.

The teenagers a long time ago.

Far Side

Ah-ha Moment

Sometimes I get the feeling that I am in the right place at the right time..two of those ah-ha moments have happened to me recently.

The first one was back in July at Lefty's, along the river in town. I was trying to photograph an Oriole when all of a sudden out of nowhere a bird landed on my arm, his feathers brushed my arm as he swooped in for a landing. He just sat on my arm, I looked at him, he looked at me, we made eye contact..he flew off onto a lawn swing and I took his photograph. Then he flew away. It was strange, I felt as though I had been kissed by a bird. Much later in the summer a comment at the Pow Wow about the possibility of a spirit bird..got me to thinking..had I already encountered a spirit bird? It is a good thing that I didn't scream like a girl and scare that bird half to death. A long time ago we had parakeets and a cockatiel so flying birds don't scare me. If it was a spirit bird..who was it? Maybe it was Charlie, whatever, just thinking about Charlie makes me smile.

Ah -ha number two was yesterday. Chance and I were bored stiff, it was the seventh day of cold spitting rain..we headed out to scowl at the rain and do a little stop the rain dance. We just drove, picking gravel roads, where there is little or no traffic. We have things to check on, the patch of Milkweed in a nearby ditch, I want to get a few seeds before it is mowed down..I am too late, the mower guy has already been busy with his big honking ditch mower, I hate that guy, he obliterates all the photogenic dried seed heads that will soon be covered with frost. We have to check the river, the water level is slowly coming up with all the rain. We drive aimlessly after that..then all of a sudden we see a herd of deer. Oh boy, Chance is primed to bark, they are on his side of the car, there is no way I can get a photo, it was a mass of white tails in the air as they headed for the safety of the woods. Well that was fun! Right or straight..which way to go?? Sometimes you pick the correct way, sometimes you don't. Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you had gone straight ahead? I turned right..luckily for me that is where the ah- ha moment unfolded.

( Doncha just love the way I can drag out a tale?) Okay, exactly how many horses does Joe have? ( Violet never really knows for sure. ) I love to watch the horses kick up their heals and run, imagining that I am riding bareback, flying along, the wind in my hair, the smell of wet horse filling my nostrils, the earth moving faster and faster beneath the valiant steeds hoofs..OKay..enough daydreaming.. the horses came running.

See they are happy to see us!

What happens next is magical, like something out of the beginning of the old western "Bonanza" where the horses and the riders come running and line up perfectly.

Not just a few either..and there are no riders.. I counted fifteen, but it was a quick count, the photos only show fourteen. Then I felt bad, I can't even share the photos with Joe, cause then Violet will have proof he has more than just a couple of horses. Chance and I enjoyed the horses for quite some time, finally we drove on..content with our ah-ha moment:)