Birds!

Birds freak me out.  They have beady eyes and freaky little legs.  I shudder just thinking about them.  But I have observed interesting things involving birds here on the North Coast.  First of all, there are gulls here in the town I am staying in.   Some of them roost on the roof of the hotel and I fall asleep to their cries, at least on the nights that the bar downstairs isn't rocking!  Their cry is sad but nice.  It makes me think of happy times spent on various beaches with family and friends. 

Second, there is a man here who appears to have a pet duck.  Now, I don't understand that but I am fascinated by the type of person that would consider a duck a pet.  I believe the duck is a pet because the first week I was here while Griff was still with me we saw this man open the door to his workshop, from the inside, and the duck came out.  While the man worked in his shop, the duck grazed (is that the right word when you are speaking of ducks) in the yard by the shop.  I've seen the duck one time since also when the door to the shop was open and you could see the man working in there.  I was talking to my friend Jerry this week about the oddness of having a duck as a pet and he tells me that he's had two ducks as pets.  This explains a lot about Jerry to me.  As I said earlier I am freaked out by birds but I really want to meet this man that has the pet duck because you know he has got to be an interesting character that looks at the world a little differently than most.  I may just have to stop and introduce myself.

The last encounter I have had with a bird while I have been here is when a pheasant ran into the road I was driving on and nearly caused me to hit it.  I only knew it was a pheasant because my brother-in-law is a hunter and shot one once that he had mounted and it hangs in his living room.  They are weird looking birds.  But I am driving along minding my own business talking to Griff on the phone as I ended my work day and I see something running out on the road as I approach.  Now you would think that something the size of a pheasant would stop if it saw something the size of a Jeep approaching but nooooo.  This stinking bird just kept crossing the road as bold as can be until I slammed on my brakes and got out of its way.  It finally stopped about two feet from my door and just looked at me as if I was in its way.  Which I guess I was because in its mind the road should not have been there.  But seriously!!!  Dang bird!!