KITE

I was riding in her car with my friend Eleanor and suddenly she said, "Look, there's a hawk!" I looked and said, "No, I think that's a kite." She said, "A kite? really, Sue, I think I know the difference between a bird and a kite." I persisted, "But a kite is a bird." She said, "No, a kite's a kite and a bird's a bird." I said, "But kites have long, pointed wings and hawks have short rounded wings and a long tail." She asked, "You saw all that while I was going 55 miles an hour?" I answered, "What can I say, I love birds!"

When we moved to our current home, we noticed some of the the neighbors outside, banging boards and pans together and fastening aluminum pie pans in the trees. One of the neighbors asked my husband, "What do you folks do to keep the birds away?" My husband answered, "Oh, we do everything we can to attract them." Vive la difference!

Each year, when the buzzards are flying to Hinkley, Ohio, a great number of them stop and rest in our trees in the side yard.. My husband will run into the house and yell, "The buzzards are here!", grab his camera and go out to photograph the event. Recently, a woman came to my house and asked, "Can I come to your house when the buzzards come?" I asked, "You know about the buzzards?" She said, "Yes, we were driving by one day and saw them in your trees and I told my daughter that I was going to ask you if we can come to your yard when they come again." I asked, "How do you know they'll come again?" She answered, "We saw them twice!" I replied, "Of course you can come join us!" She asked, "Why hasn't the newspaper ever covered this?" I said, "I think some of my neighbors would be upset if I publicized it." She said, "We call your house the Buzzard House." She saw me wince at the reference and said, "Oh, every time we drive by, we talk about the buzzards!" She said, "You should have a party!" My brother, ever the wit, said, "Yeah, you could serve bird's nest soup!"