Monday Morning Silliness
October 13, 2008 – 9:58 am
Titmouse at the Conehead Feeder
I woke up this morning with a silly song in my head. You know the one. It goes “If you want stay happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife…” Sorry to say that now you’ll be stuck with that song in your head but somehow I feel better. HA! Isn’t it funny how people are just drawn to share silliness?
As I walked around the yard with those few lines playing over and over in my head, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of giddiness. As a result I was drawn to those things around me that are also silly. Take my birdfeeder. It’s an ice cream cone with a face. This silly little thing is designed so song birds can land on the tongue to grab little seeds from the mouth of the screaming lady. No matter how many times I see it happen, I always laugh. The funniest is when a larger bird like a blue jay tries in vain to steal some seeds. It winds up hopping up and down until it finally gives up, but never before I’m rolling in belly laughter.
Making the rounds I stopped to feed the koi in our large pond. Although all of the fish are fun to feed, it’s our newest addition that really brings me joy. Like many of our pets, she goes by many names. We haven’t settled on one that’s just right yet. I call her Gertrude. Gertrude was a rescue fish that we adopted this summer.
Getrude, the crooked mouthed koi
She is about twenty-five years old. If she were a person, she’d be an old lady. And like many old ladies I know, she is very entertaining. Born with several flaws, this fish should have been culled at an early age. First of all she is assymetrical and has warts. When we first got her, her gills stuck out from under her gill plates, a bad sign that she was severly underweight. It took a month of hand feeding in quarantine to get her healthy.
But these are all the things a good breeder would tell you are flaws. The average person wouldn’t notice unless they were pointed out. The obvious flaw: her mouth is deformed and it opens to the side. When she comes up to feed, she opens her mouth to the side and goes around in circles to catch the pellets into her mouth. I have to tell you, it’s hilarious. If you ever get a chance, you must pay her a visit. Because of her infirmaties, she is extremely gentle. Unlike her aggressive pond-mates, Gertrude will let you drop food right into her mouth and allow you to pet her while she eats.
Thinking about how much I enjoy this fish, I couldn’t help but wonder what it says about me. That if I were given a choice between lovable entertainment and good breeding stock, I’d take lovable entertainment any day. Perhaps it means that even I know that love is more honorable than money and that laughter is more powerful than greed.
I guess on days like today, when the world is in a state of weird upheaval, it pays to find laughter wherever you can. Happy Monday and in case you forgot, “If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife….”
