We here in RegenAxe-land would like to wish Anne a happy birthday.  Although there is some disagreement here.  Should we refer to her by her given name or by her nom de guerre?  Anyway, here’s wishing you a happy birthday.  I just wish that we had more candles.  😉

This last Christmas, I received the The COMPLETE WORST-CASE SCENARIO Survival Handbook.  Each page presents the reader with another worst-case scenario and then offers helpful suggestion on how the reader might survive this situation.  Today’s scenario is, how do you detangle a bird caught in your hair?  Personally, I don’t see this as much of a problem.  I wear my hair pretty short, so I don’t see anyway that a bird could get entangled in my hair.  The guide advises the reader to shield their eyes and face with an arm.  With your other hand, grab the bird’s feet and legs from behind, pull it from your hair and then toss it away.  Do not attempt to grab the head or beak!

I have never had a bird caught in my hair, but I have had a bird attack my head.  It was at work.  Steve, and I were doing our regular lunchtime walk around the parking lots.  It was springtime and the Canada Geese were nesting.  We made our last turn and were heading back to work, when one particular goose became particularly agitated and started to move aggressively towards us.  We started to back away.  This seemed to infuriate the goose even more.  Steve is a bit bigger guy than I am, so I think this factored into the goose’s reasoning.  It flew-up and pecked me a couple of times on the top of my head, breaking the skin.  Only afterwards did we both see the female goose behind us.  We had backed into their nest.  These days, I do my lunchtime walk with Barbara.  I’m a bit bigger guy than she is.

Anne had an analogous experience involving blue jays.  A baby blue jay had fallen from the nest.  Anne decided to rescue it.  She got a pot and lid or some such thing. Her intention was to scoop it up off the grass and place it in a high bush.  Well, she hadn’t gotten the parent blue jays consent to this plan.  As she approached the baby the parents swooped and drove her off.  Watching this from a safe distance, I suggested theat she wear her bicycle helmet for protection.  Wearing her helm of protection from birds +2, she again approached the baby jay.  The thing about bicycle helmets is that they have these rather large vent holes.  I know from my experience that a bicycle helmet is no protection in a hail storm and blue jays are way smarter than hail stones.  They drove her off again.  Although Anne meant well, sometimes good intension are misinterpreted.

Today’s post suffers from an embarrassment of riches.  Frank has sent another one of his animations.  On Sunday his beloved Chargers face the Jets.