Tales From The Front Porch: Meet Sue

You meet all kinds of interesting people going door to door. It's my favorite part of campaigning. Last night was a good night for gathering ballot petition signatures. The constant drizzle had my hair matted to my head. I must have cut quite a pathetic figure and people took pity on me. Last night I met Sue. She's the self-proclaimed "Birdlady of Brookside." Sue is a retiree who spends her days watching and feeding the neighborhood birds. She has a huge feeder in her backyard that provides her with hours of entertainment. I learned the following things about Sue's backyard Wild Kingdom: There are three Red-tailed Hawks that hang around her neighborhood. They no doubt appreciate the bird feeder which lures plenty of game for them. One particular hawk hasn't figured out that if he actually sits on the feeder that no birds will come. He will sit there for as much as an hour waiting and watching with nary a bird or squirrel in sight. Sue finds this highly amusing. Another regular visitor is a feral parrot. He started showing up this past Spring. He arrives first thing in the morning and every afternoon about 4PM. Knowing that a parrot is probably someone's pet, Sue has diligently watched the newspaper for ads looking for a lost bird. She has tried to call him by whistling which has done nothing but earn her a loud scolding from the wayward bird. She tried to lure him into a cage on several occasions which earned her more loud chattering from the angry little guy. He doesn't want to be caught! The topper to my encounter was when Sue re-enacted the time she was luring a wounded pigeon to her back porch so she could care for it. The thing was actually walking along behind her like it knew what she was up to. About that time one of the hawks swooped in out of nowhere. Both the hawk and the pigeon were gone in an instant. Sue was just glad the hawk didn't grab her too. I know I violated the "5 minute rule" of door to door once again. I just can't help myself. When I meet people that want to talk to me and tell me their story, how can I refuse? It was worth it. I got to hear funny stories, make a new friend, earn a vote and secure a yardsign location on a very busy street. Some "rules" are made to be broken.