Can I let you in on a little secret? I've decided to enter a little competition in the State Fair this year. Yes, we've been raising goats in our back yard! To hell with the Homeowner's Association - we wanted goats.
Wait a minute, you don't believe me?
Considering the fact that even buying a hermit crab throws me into pet responsibility panic mode, you'd be right to be suspicious. (Still, I do so love the chickens at the fair. Maybe someday . . . )
No, I've decided to enter a few photographs into the non-professional competition at the Indiana State Fair. And in going through my photos to narrow down the three I'd like to enter I've come upon an odd discovery. I kind of have a thing for birds. I've joked about being the bird paparazzi before, but I might just have a problem. Observe:
In all fairness, I come by it honestly. Not the stalking and photographing part, but the general enthrallment with birds. In my dad's retirement years, he's become quite the fan of birds as well. His office desk faces the backyard, which he slowly turned into a little bird oasis, with a couple of feeders and a lovely little fountain/bird bath. It got a little ugly there for awhile, during his bird bigotry phase. Turns out when you decide to feed the birds, you don't just get the lovely little pretty ones. The crows, the starlings, the blue jay with an attitude? They got my dad a bit riled up. So he rigged up a little contraption to give the poor "unwanteds" a teeny little shock should they land on a certain feeder - not enough to hurt them, but enough to make them think twice about messing with my dad's bird utopia. I swear upon my own life - there was a little switch right next to his desk he could just flick at will. He's toned it down in that regard, even going so far as to make friends with the squirrels that most bird lovers despise. But that's a story for another day.
It just goes to show you that the love affair with the birds is there, and in those days when my little birds leave this nest? The other birds out there should be very, very worried. They're going to have a stalker on hand.
