Tuesday, October 4, 2011

It's For The Birds

When we first moved to the Black Hills I was enamored with the beauty of the landscape. And the fall proved to far exceed my expectations of the magnificent terrain. We only had one kiddo at that time (man! that was a LOOOOONG time ago...since I'm working on baking #5 as I type!). Every morning I would load up my 3 1/2 year old and drive to the park to partake of the falling leaves, cool temperatures, and wildlife that called the park their home.

It was always an excitement to take our old bread at the end of the week and feed the ducks and geese that would flock around us as we waved our delicacies their way. Ty loved tossing the crumbs for the ducks and seeing which ones were fast enough to snatch the prized treasure. However, some of the geese would get a little "bossy" if they weren't given their fare share of the treats. And often they would ever-so-slightly invade your personal space if you didn't respond quickly enough to their demands.

Most mornings we were pretty successful at avoiding the big, bossy geese. The ducks are more fun to watch anyway. Unfortunately, for Ty, those darn geese were very persistent! Normally I would give Ty one slice of bread at a time to disperse at will. However, on this particular morning, I let him carry the entire bag....which proved to be my son's demise!

If you have never been reprimanded by a hungry goose...then consider yourself lucky. They can reach easily past an adult's midsection when those scary necks are outstretched. But for a 3 year old, they were easily towering over his floofy, blonde head! The higher he held his little hand (which was holding the prized bread), the higher those geese reached and the louder the squawked with their ominous, flapping beaks!

Fight or flight took over...and fear won out. My 3 year old took off as fast as he could trying to escape their advances. They have obviously never been taught that "no means NO". Determined to save his bread Ty refused to drop the "booty" for the party-crashing pirates. And hence the chase was on!

Where is this young lad's mother, you might ask, to save the day...or the child anyway? I was cowering on the top of a picnic table trying to avoid the same torture as my son. It may not have been my proudest moment...but in my defense, he didn't heed my warning to "throw the bread!!!"

I believe in survival of the fittest...or brains over brawn. Whichever the case, my kiddo finally escaped the tyrannical geese. But he has never enjoyed feeding the birds at the park since that fateful day!

5 comments:

Patty said...

Poor Ty!!

Have to admit that the whole scene that day must have been funny as hell but the childhood trauma inflicted by those grisly geese certainly was not.

Quietly giggling to myself....:)))

Johi said...

Geese are horrible and I think that screaming like a girl scout whenever one comes near you is normal and healthy. What?

Foursons said...

Hahaha. I have been bitten by those tyrannical geese. They are not nice!

Bethany said...

Oh. My. Word. That is the funniest story I've read all day!

Bridget McCarthy said...

My cousin once got the crap beat out of him by a kangaroo because he wouldn't hand over his peanuts. I ran away screaming, too. Except (a) the kangaroo was MUCH BIGGER than me, and (b) I was 10. Also, geese are WAY meaner than any other animal on the planet.