Fighters and Bombers

Terrorist

Show-off

In Arizona over the weekend Tam and I were fortunate enough to have lunch sitting outside. Perfect weather with sunshine and 70 degrees. As I sat there sipping my iced tea I got buzzed by just this littlest show-off of a bird. He brushed right over my head. I swear, if it had been an airliner passing over treetops we'd have been hearing about the event nonstop for the past 18 hours. As it is, it was a bird and not an airliner and so the story remains important only to me. (Don't kid yourself-- that doesn't mean you won't have to read about it.)

The good news is the little guy didn't get scared to the point where he lost the runny white contents of his bowels. While it makes the report less funny, his not crapping on my head did make my lunch that much more enjoyable.  He did, however, freak out Tam.

Tam is not ornithophobic. She just doesn't like the little creeps when they swoop. In Chicago it used to be a problem. There are more than a few areas in that city where those big fat flying rats, aka pigeons, congregate. As you approach on foot they start to weave and cackle, as if trying to determine a collective go or no-go status, and then, swoosh!! (apologies to NIKE) they depart en masse, more often than not flying at you, and all but through you, wings flapping, feathers and crap flying. Tam and I would cover our heads and nearly drop to the pavement. For the life of me I do not understand what's to like about places like St. Mark's Square! While never hit, those bad boys, like seagulls, have the well-earned reputation of owning deadly accuracy when it comes to bombing the unsuspecting pedestrian. It got so that all we had to do was see a flock of pigeons ahead and we'd choose to cross the street if the option existed.

I guess this is just one more thing to like about Arizona: So far no heavy bombers to threaten our patio lunches. Just a few highly maneuverable aerobats showing off their skills. I think we'll be able to handle it.