Thursday, July 21, 2005

Cooper's hawks and women's fashions

No, the two are not related, they are just the two things on my mind. I almost lost my nearly-blind BBRed hen to a Cooper's hawk this evening. "Catty" has bad cataracts (hence her name, I know, how weird) and can only see in certain directions--behind and above is not one of those directions. So I was heading in after collecting eggs, and I heard a bunch of squawking and out of the corner of my eye saw what looked like two birds "tumbling" across the driveway. Immediately I knew what was going on, so I ran out there with the dogs close at my heels. The hawk was perched on top of a roll of fencing, and Catty had scrambled inside the roll. I went straight for the hawk, and when the dogs saw me going after it, they went after it too and barked while it flew off. Good for them, I want them to learn I don't like hawks around the birds (the dogs hate pigeons too, and will chase them). Catty is fine, other than some emotional bruising. I couldn't find a scratch on her, but she was pretty shook up. Poor girl, she's unfortunately an easy target. Kids love that bird, she is so easy to catch (of course, she can't see much!) and she's really docile when caught. Seems like EVERY summer there is a very brazen juvenile Cooper's hawk that hangs out and harasses the birds. Can't be the same one, it's a juvenile every year! Arg. I am not a hawk-hater, don't get me wrong. I would never harm one. I have a lot of respect and admiration for birds of prey, and everybody has to eat. I just don't like it when they choose my birds as their potential meals! 99% of my birds are cooped up, so it's not usually an issue. Maybe it will go away.

The other thing on my mind tonight is the current state of women's fashions. I had to go to the mall today to attempt to find something to wear to a family reunion thing this weekend, and holy moley there is a lot of ugly stuff out there. Not just ugly, but totally unflattering. How do people bend over in those short skirts??? How do people cram their feet into those pointy shoes? There are some really cute looking shirts, but geez they are not flattering! Unless of course someone fits into a size small...but hey, that's not me. One would think that clothing designers would realize that someone who doesn't wear the little bitty sizes might not look really hot in a skin-tight shirt...right? Yeesh. So I think instead of trying to look nice this weekend we should have a "wear the ugliest thing you can find at the mall" party. For me, it would be the orange/black/brown/white broomstick skirt (think calico cat), a lime green velour and lace halter top so low cut that it would leave NOTHING to the imagination (I am assuming one is supposed to wear something under those?? Or do you just not bend over? Gosh if you wore that with a little butt-bearing skirt you couldn't even walk safely!) and of course to finish the outfit it would have to be the rainbow-sequined pointy-toed high heel shoes. Oh yeah, I'd be hot stuff...sheesh. Shopping is bad for self-esteem.

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