June 12, 1999
With a cup of milk tea in my hand, I came out to the balconey to enjoy the early morning freshness and chirping of birds. My attention was immediately drawn by a loud quacking of birds in the parking lot. A cat was prowling menacingly and a couple of black birds were attacking it. Their aerial superiority was less destructive yet more effective than NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
I noticed a small house sparrow that had yet to learn to fly fluttering and trying to escape from the cat. The black bird couple menacingly and valiantly launched their aerial attack and effectively made the cat change its mind and abandon its pursuit. The mama and papa sparrows helped the little sparrow off from the street, where it might have come under the passing cars. There were at least five different species of birds coordinating their effort on behalf of the sparrow family. They were quacking out loud perched on the cars and branches and flying threateningly close to the cat. They fluttered and made such awesome noise that the cat had to forgo its breakfast.
I was much impressed by the community spirit of the little birds.
My friend Dondi in Borger, Texas where I attended a community college, is a big outdoor man who loves to hunt and fish. I can vouch for his skill because his catch fed me an entire semester, till I smelled like fish myself. I could have been mistaken for a walleye and ended up in his hook, if I had not stopped accepting the free fish.
Recently Dondi caught a 6 pound 11 ounce walleye. He used his recently purchased digital camera and snapped a picture, and emailed it to Mel Phillips who writes a column about fishing. Then the very next night, he caught another 6 pound 11 ounce walleye. Once again he emailed the picture to Mel.
Mel has been kidding Dondi saying, "At least he changed shirts before taking the second picture, ha!"
Basic outline contributed by Vicki Brame, Borger, Texas (March 20, 1999)
