Tuesday Yappidydeedum

I should call this Terrific Tuesday, at least if the morning sunshine and the cheeeeeeeeeezeburger bird chorus outside provide any indication for how pleasant it's gonna be.

I'm excited for other reasons too.

Maybe a little later this morning the Jaybird will return. One day last fall, I saw a Blue Jay feeding on the ground beneath the Scotch pine tree in the front yard. The sighting thrilled me so much I went to town and bought a big bag of peanuts.

I remembered all the joy my parents derived at the old farm on North Boyer on summer days when the jays would sit up in the cedar tree next to the horse corral, waiting and yapping for their handouts. Those birds knew suckers when they found them.

And the farm store did well too. Bags and bags' worth of peanuts went on the ground only to be scooped up in seconds by those big beautiful, noisy birds. It may have been a necessity for my folks to feed 'em, just to shut them up so they could hear themselves talk.

Anyway, my sighting last fall gave me faint hope that maybe I could attract a few of my own jays. The peanuts remained in the feeder all winter. I gave up hope---until yesterday morning.

No peanuts, just sunflower seeds scattered on the ground had attracted a lone jay to the same area where the finches usually feed. A big fat robin sat on the limb of the red maple looking down at the visiting bird. I was thinking that robin was probably wishing that jay would leave so he/she could have some breakfast.

Excited once more, I didn't have to go to town. The brown bag of peanuts sat next to the front door. I wasted no time grabbing a handful and quietly walking the deck to fling the peanuts to the area where the jay was feeding.

Well, the jay was nowhere to be seen---for at least a few minutes. Later, I walked by the window and saw the bird grabbing a peanut and flying off. That crazy bird made a total idiot out of me for the next 20 minutes. I ran to get my camera. Every time I'd appear on the deck to take a picture, the bird would leave and go yap, yap somewhere else.

No pictures for proof this morning, but the jay hung around for several hours. This morning peanuts are strewn all over the lawn near the finch feeder and over by the scotch pine tree in hopes of inspiring another visit.

I know. I know. Jays can be irritating, but so can crows, and we've got plenty of those flying around here. So, I'll be happy is the lone jay brings a few friends, and Co-Op will be happy cuz I'll be down there buying peanuts, just like my parents.

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I'm also excited today because I get to go visit a place with some world-class jumping horses. It's in our neighborhood, and the owner has kindly opened a time slot for me to come to see the horses and the set-up. She kinda downplays the horses and prefers talking about all the kids she's adopted. So, who knows? Maybe there will be a story coming out of today's visit.

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While scooping poop this morning, I heard an radio ad on K102.5 which has been playing for the past couple of weeks. It's a promotion for a fundraiser at an assisted living facility. Besides having stuff to sell, the program tomorrow will feature an Elvis impersonator.

It dawned on me this morning (no pun) that Elvis may be replacing Frank Sinatra and Perry Como as the elderly set's favorite entertainers. What is this saying about my age?

I'm wondering who will be the preferred choice when us babyboomers hit "the home," as my friend Marcy Neher calls it. An aside: my mother refers to it as "the prison" and remains steadfast in her convictions.

If I were to choose a few singers to come and entertain me during my wheelchair days, I'm thinking Connie Francis would be important. After all, her hit single back in the '60s served as my seventh-grade fight song: Where the Boys Are.

Only problem was "the boys" were always somewhere else with someone else other than me. Still, I liked Connie, and I'm sure there are a lot of those boys "who are very sorry now" that they ran the other way when they saw me coming. Evidently, Bill had a foot problem or something when I successfully chased him down.

Fun to think about who will replace Elvis by the time I get sent to "the home/prison." I guess if I followed my mother's opinion of such places, Johnny Cash would do just fine cuz he sang in a lot of prisons. Plus, I like his music. So, a tip for all you impersonators out there----you can start dressing like the Man in Black, start hitting the assisted care "prisons," maybe you can make some money.

For my daughter, I'm sure Eddie Veddar of Pearl Jam will be a hands-down favorite. For my son, he'd probably rather watch a basketball game.

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The census envelope came yesterday. The first sentence, after instructions to "use a blue or black pen" tells us "The Census must count every person living in the United States on April 1, 2010."

How do they expect to get an accurate count when the filling out the form happens on on April Fool's Day? Isn't that the U.S. national holiday for making up stuff?

Isn't that the day Don Albertson tells me my horses are running down the road when they're really just standing in the barnyard being guarded by Border Collies?

Somehow I'm wondering about the credibility of a census taken on that day.

Oh well, it looks like a fun assignment, and if Bill or I do fill it out on April Fool's Day, there's room for information about 10 fictional people besides us. That could be especially fun cuz the boxes to check allow choices for people who live in "jail or prison."

An impish mind like mine could have a heydey on April 1, and maybe I'd be so busy filling out my form that I won't have time to answer the phone if Don Albertson calls.

Happy Tuesday.