Showing posts with label bird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bird. Show all posts

Tuesday 19 March 2013

I got robbed!


About a week ago, I stuck a wrought iron shepherd's hook in the front yard and hung a bird feeder on it. Later, I poured some feed in it and saw that it became very popular with doves, finches, cardinals, sparrows, etc. Then, to our chagrin, the squirrels managed to climb the half-inch diameter post and shake the feeder so that seeds fall to the ground and they'd scrounge a free meal.

After a few days, the evil rodents actually learned to stand to the side of the feeder, open the lid and get right inside and eat to their hearts' content.

Well, I wasn't going to be robbed by a pea-brained rat, so this morning, I dabbed a paper towel with cooking oil, went outside and rubbed down about a two foot section of the pole up from about a foot off the ground.

We stood at the doorway and waited. Sure enough, Mr. Crook wanders over, sees us watching, but decides we're no threat. He jumps up on the pole to about the middle of the greased area, and for a split second is motionless then suddenly slides down about a foot, all the while staring at us with a look that I'm sure said "WTF???.

I got my camera hoping to catch a repeat performance on video, but alas, it was not to be. I'll keep a look-out just in case some other wise guy gets the same idea.



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Friday 5 October 2012

Big bird salutes Mitt Romney


For the benefit of anyone who doesn't "get it", Romney said during the debate that he would stop funding PBS, which has been producing Sesame Street (and many fine programs) for as long as I can remember. Well, not quite. I'm even older than Oscar the grouch. But the children of over 120 countries now grow up watching those lovable muppets and getting a head start on learning numbers, the alphabet and laughter. Mitt the grinch would deprive the world of all that.


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Thursday 18 March 2010

Wave at the nice policeman

Thank God most criminals are dumb. We might be in serious trouble, otherwise. Case in point:

A young man walking along a highway near Kenora, Ontario, Canada spotted a police car going by and took the opportunity to "flip the bird", give a "middle finger salute" or whatever you want to call the rude gesture. The cop turned his vehicle around and stopped to chat with the guy.

During the exchange, it came to light that the man was carrying a number of stolen items, including two credit cards, a GPS, an IPod charger and a BlackBerry. The 19-year-old was charged with possession of stolen property.

The police officer said "A simple wave would have been a wiser choice".

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Monday 21 September 2009

No birds were harmed during the making of this blog post

Yesterday, I made one of my regular visits to Woodbine raceway, but my visit was anything but regular. I had saved a few slices of old bread to feed to the birds which are always in great abundance on the grounds. There's everything from sparrows to seagulls to Canada geese.

As I exited my car, I immediately spotted a seagull close by. I threw a piece of bread toward him, he let out a squawk and flew away from me for a second, then quickly turned back when he realized what it was I had thrown, snapped it up and took flight. He did so because another seagull had been watching the events unfold from about 25 yards away and was chasing him in no time flat. The pursuer squawked all the while he was in hot pursuit.

I guess the commotion roused a few other gulls from even farther away and as they approached, I threw them another piece of bread. The "lucky" bird who was quick enough to get it was mobbed by the other birds trying to get a piece of the action. I threw another morsel and the scene repeated itself. All the while these birds were making a racket.

As I continued throwing bread, the volume of birds and the volume of their squawking kept rising. Soon they were walking, squawking and flying all around me. I quickened my bread-throwing in an effort to finish it and get the hell out of there. I felt certain that at any moment, Alfred Hitchcock would appear and call off the birds. My last thought as I ran to escape was that at any second I would surely get bombarded by some big, wet, green excrement.

Somehow, I managed to avoid such a disaster. As I neared the entrance, I reflected how different this experience was from the other times I had brought bread there. Rarely had any birds even noticed me and if they did, it was usually a single sparrow who reaped the benefit of my generosity, sometimes under the watchful eye of a black squirrel. It was always a very peaceful scene. From now on, I think I'll just dump all my bread and run. I'm really not looking for any kind of "payment" for it.

Tuesday 21 October 2008

Background music

The song you're hearing is from one of my recent music videos. I'm thinking of playing some background music here on an ongoing basis. If you like this song, it's The Beatles' Free as a Bird (currently third one down) found here: www.videosbyvinny.blogspot.com