a bird in the kitchen is worth two in hand
I. A couple of months ago I was driving home from somewhere with a mini-vanload of 15-to-16-year olds when my cell phone rang. Me: "Speak to me!" My seven-year-old, K~: "We found a dead bird. And it doesn't have any wounds on its body. And there's no blood. It's feathers are undisturbed. And it's wings aren't broken..." I'm thinking, "I should write a pilot for CSI Animal Planet." I interrupt: "DON'T TOUCH THE DEAD BIRD!" So at this point the teenagers in my car stop talking about life and love and the lastest song on the radio and start laughing. I want to say to them, "Just you wait. You future parents, you." I turn my attention back to the phone call, which is not going well. At the same time I'm ruling out West Nile Virus because it's too cold. Bird Flu because we're in the western hemisphere. At least it looks like we won't be going into quarantine... K~: "I'm not." M...