My How Beautiful I Am!

Sometime in the early 2000s, we were visiting my father in law, Ed Dodd, in Athens, GA.  My sister in law and brother in law, Marie and Jim, lived just up the hill about 50 yards away.  Soon after our arrival, we noticed a pretty redbird that would fly constantly between a tree and Ed’s car.  Upon closer observation, we noticed that the redbird’s motivation was flying around the rear-view mirror on the driver’s door of the car.  In fact, as the bird approached the mirror, he would undoubtedly see his own reflection.  Fascinated and uncontrollably in love with such a beautiful sight as himself, he fluttered and flapped relentlessly, desperate to join that charming companion inside of the mirror.

This would have been a delightful and entertaining experience for anyone, except for one consequence of the unusual behavior.  As the bird was mesmerized around the mirror, it also frequently found the need to release its bowels, the contents of which would then run down the side of Ed’s car.  The result was an unflattering mess from top to bottom of the driver’s door on an otherwise nice looking, light blue Ford Crown Victoria.

Upon mentioning the bird to Ed, a grimace quickly besmirched his usually calm and jovial face and he muttered some unbecoming words about the critter, something like “THAT SORRY DAD BLAMED REDBIRD.  I’M GONNA TAKE CARE OF HIM” antibiotic amoxicillin!  Of course, we all chuckled at the thought and vision of an 80 year old man taking out his frustrations on the tiny feathered creature.

Distraught at Ed’s obvious frustration and hoping to improve his demeanor regarding the situation, we decided to turn on the water hose and clean the door.   By the next day, the love-filled, self-absorbed bird had again covered the auto with feces.  The cycle of washing and then watching the excrement quickly return went on several times during our one week stay.

We returned home to Colorado, now quite relieved to remove ourselves from the dirty door dilemma http://ukviagras..cialis-uk/.  A few weeks later, Yvonne received a call from her sister Marie, who quickly and excitedly said, “Well, you won’t believe what woke us up this morning.  We were lying in bed and suddenly heard a loud BOOOOOM just outside the window”.   Startled, Yvonne then asked “What on earth was it”?  Busting into a jocular laugh, Marie exclaimed, “I don’t think that redbird will be pooping on Daddy’s car anymore”.

Therefore, as it turns out, Ed was not bluffing at all … truly a man of his word.  Soon after they heard the shot, Marie and Jim confronted Ed, asking, “What on earth was that huge bang”.  With his characteristic sly grin, he answered, “I got me a redbird”.  He then ignored Marie when she told him “Good heavens Daddy, you can’t be shooting a gun in the front yard”.

Similarly, Yvonne, with a sense of shock and disbelief, soon called her Dad and asked, “So I hear you took care of that redbird this morning”?  Beaming with pride, the reply was simply “I got that sucker with one shot!  He won’t be messing up my door anymore”.  Ed had successfully taken down the infamous bird with his faithful .410 gauge shotgun.  So, that my friends is how they did it in the 1920s and 1930s, when Ed grew up in Jackson County, Georgia.

In Memory of Ed Dodd (1922-2008)