Thursday, November 10, 2005

Sweeps Week

A combination of Rachel feeding birds in 'Just Call Me a Knothead', and Paul asking us to rerun some of our favorites, has started me down this road. I'm going to rerun one of my favorites from last January in an attempt to get in the running with Paul AND maybe get you to look back thru the archives at what was shakin before you met me. From last January, here's Birdseed.
Birdseed
Ralph's latest blog about "it wasn't funny at the time" got me to thinking about an incident that happened in our home when my youngest son was still attending high school. Like now, we had bitterly cold temps and the ground was covered with snow.
It was supper time (dinner time to you city slickers), I was in my Lazy Boy reading the paper when my wife walks in, half frozen, but gleefully holding a large, empty birdseed sack. She dangled it a while and I said "what". She said,"I felt so sorry for the poor birds that I bought this big bag of birdseed and all the way from the highway to our house, (some 7 miles), I kept throwing out a handful at a time, all the way to here. Ten pounds, gone". I thought that it sounded like a noble and generous thing to do for these little creatures. Not something I would do, because I think that as a farmer, I already scatter corn and bean millings and weed seed over a thousand acres. I not only support the birds but about 250 head of deer. Her effort was never the less, noble.
Thirty minutes later, my son drove in from basketball practice. He burst through the door, slammed it and half yelled, "Stupid Birds"! I lowered my paper and said "What"?
He said, "they wouldn't move tonight, they always move when a car comes along, it's like they all decided to die today". "I must have hit 10 of them"!
I said, "go find your Mom, I think she's in the basement, she'll want to hear this story". He went down, and then they both came up and entered the living room and stared at me like this was somehow my fault. I lowered my paper and said "what"?
Today, you will find the birdseed in two large feeders, in our yard. It wasn't funny at the time, but, well... yeah, it was funny at the time, that's why they both came up to stare at me. I was laughing. Okay, I'm a sick person.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cliff,
If it wasn't for the "what" guy sitting on the Lazy Boy, Tom and Marilyn might never have figured it out. Marilyn might have thought she poisoned the birds, and Tom might have thought the birds were attacking his car. And once again, the "what" guy, who just wanted to read his paper, gets the dirty looks. Life is so unfair.

Funny, funny story, my friend.

Rachel said...

Good story Cliff! I can see you sitting there and chuckling as they stare at you! Glad you have those birdfeeders up now! I'm sure the birds appreciate it.

Cliff said...

Francesca, thanks for the visit and you're more than welcome to link. Thanks!!

Jamie Dawn said...

This story reminds me of that commercial with the chubby kid with glasses who comes to someone's door and says with a lisp, "Want thum bird theed?
It'th for the birdth." I LOVE that cute kid!
Please remind Marilyn & your son this winter that "Thou shalt not kill."
This story was new to me. Thanks for sharing one of your archive gems.

EV said...

I'll show my age, but do you remember the show "WKRP in Cincinnati". As a promo they decided to drop live turkeys from a helicopter to a crowd assembled in a parking.

But, the turkeys couldn't fly. I don't need to finish, do I??? :0)

Peter said...

Cliff, if it wasn't funny at the time, it sure as hell is now!!

Jamie Dawn said...

Rachel, this note is for you. I am unable to comment at your blog for some reason. It says I'm not a team member. I hope you get this message. I will try again tomorrow.

Cliff said...

Yes Dear Rachel, now that you've captivated all of us with your writing skills, you've inadvertently,(I'll assume)formed a team of that people like Cliff and Jamie Dawn aren't a part of. It must have been a switch you hit while turning on your verification.

Paul Nichols said...

Thanks again for stopping by my blog. I have visited Rachel and a few days ago left a comment. Now I have to be a team member. I'd like to visit again and, when prompted, leave a comment.

Could somebody at your joint contact her and vouch for me.

And your story is something that would have worked at our house. Good one.

Rachel said...

Thank goodness I read these comments! I HOPE I changed it! I think I see what I did wrong. Gotta watch those tricky details every second, lest they change on you before you can save it!!

Rhodent said...

he he he ha ha ha chuckle chuckle chuckle ROFL!

Rhodent said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.