The NFC B-Day Chat Thread

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Blooie said:
Well, never let it be said that when Blooie goes out for a bit of an adventure she goes halfway. I spent part of the afternoon fighting off this little sh....er...bird. Kinda cute, isn't he? I get to go to Grand Lodge in Arizona this week with a nasty pinch on my eye, several bruises on my arm, and a bite on my leg and arm, one of which broke the skin. All I wanted to do was take a photo of this little grouse boldly standing in the middle of the highway.


I got out of the car and walked around the back side, thinking that I'd snap his photo as he ran down the ditch into the sagebrush on the other side. So I sneaked around and he wasn't there. But he hadn't crossed the road. Where was he? I got down on my knees to make sure he wasn't under the car so we could just leave without running him over. Didn't see him there, but when I looked up he was literally right in my face, eye level. I thought, "Oh, how cute! And what a shot!" That's when I got two pounds of furious little grouse on the top of the head, back down on the ground, and immediately back on my face. What the he11???? I used my arm to try to fend him off. Nope, he kept coming, over and over again. In the car they could hear the flapping, and Katie said later she could see me making odd movements, but did either of my intrepid heroes come to my rescue? Heck no!! After all, it was just a little grouse, about the size of a Silkie. I tried to stand but every movement triggered another attack. I finally got upright, and thought (wrongly) that he'd see my size and give up. So I got a couple of pictures and took one step toward the car. That's when I ended up with him attached to my pant leg! Um, this is not good. Every step I took was an effort. He flapped and re-attacked, and reattached every time. At last I got to the door and jerked it open. He wasn't having that - he was coming with me. Then my efforts had to swing into "Keep him out at all costs, but don't slam the door because you'll decapitate him" mode.

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Still crouched. Standing up

I had my calendar in the little open bin on the inside of the door. We'd used it at the Holiday Inn. I didn't see it happen, but in the process of trying to kill me he flapped my calendar - yes, THE calendar - out onto the road. We didn't notice that at first. We were on a quest to find and photograph moose, so Ken pulled into a turnout and we headed back the other way. Didn't see the little sh...er...bird as we passed that spot again, and we moved on. We were taking our time, looking in the willows for moose and stopping at a couple of places to get some shots. I suppose it was a good 45 minutes later before we swung around again and headed for home. As we were driving back that way, the little sh...er...bird was standing right in the center of the highway, chasing any car or even semi-truck that passed by. He took on all comers.

We were kinda laughing at the unsuspecting suckers that might try to get out for a photo when Ken pointed up ahead and said, "Is that your calendar laying there? Oh, NO! I had to get out of the car!! Dear hubby said he'd distract him while I got it, which I did. Jumped back in the car and guess what? The page with half of May on one side and half of June on the other was missing. We drove on slowly, scanning the roadside for my missing June. Nope, no sign. We'd have to turn around yet again and see if it had blown the other direction. And the little sh...er..bird was waiting. I think he used my calendar as bait. We figured there was safety in numbers....he couldn't take us both on. Wrong. I had my camera in my hand and got out of the passenger door just in time to hear Ken yelling, "You little....." well, never mind that part. I was so glad that I didn't miss what was happening and got these photos of the little sh....er....bird nailing Ken. Poor Ken no sooner had his leg out when he was attacked. But we had to find that page!

So we braved it. Down the highway we went, the little sh....er...bird following and attacking all the way there, and all the way back. He never quit. Katie is in the car taking videos the whole time. At the point where the little sh...er....bird got in front of me, he jumped up and nailed my leg just below my knee. I rubbed my knee and he went after my hand. I tried to get a photo of his evil, laughing little face and he jumped up again, grabbed the camera strap, and held on, flapping and cussing the whole time. That was enough. We walked back toward the car and he followed like a puppy - when he wasn't attacking. By then Katie was laughing hysterically.

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The Big Horns and the little sh....er...bird can have June. I was sick of it already anyway. I'll see if Katie will send me the video. And hey, at least I posted them all in order and as thumbnails, but I had to post this many to really show how persistent he was!
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Holy cow! You’re lucky he didn’t peck your eye out.
 

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