Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for October 18, 2017

Earl figured that since people have been calling him a “birdbrain” all his life, he might as well put it to good use.

Just because you dress the part, does not mean you can sing the part.

Earl’s coming in on a wing and a prayer.

I wonder if Mel Blanc started out like this?

Hey gang! I just realized that you can “like” your own comment! How do you like that?

Earl must definitely be a Charlie Parker fan.

I heard some of Earl’s bird call recordings….

and now I know the reason he bought the suit.

It’s a lovely suit, BTW. Top of the line at Stel’s Costume Annex.

“Bluebird of Happiness”, it says on the box…. real feathers…

and here’s the thing: “Realistic enough to fool a bird’s own mother!”

So what Earl did is give some of the local birds his cell number.

Remember, this is Ballard Street, where some birds do more than tweet.

Some even work at Ballard Bananas and Cheese, or other nice stores.

One of the bird calls he played for me went sorta like this:

Rii-ii-ng!

“Hello, Earl here.”

“Hey, Earl… this is Jay. I’m just leaving work…. did you still want me to bring you some cheddar?”

“That would be great. About 3 pounds OK?”

“Um… sorry man, I’m flying. Didn’t bring the car tonight.

I’ve gotta wrapped chunk here… nice stuff… Ballard Farms Sharp… hmm… 1.17 pounds. $6.73. Will that do for tonight?"

“Oh, sure.”

“See ya in 7. I travel as the crow flies, ya know…. hahaha…”

“Hahaha… yer a card. I’ll have a beer waitin’ for ya!” Click!

See? So boring you probably didn’t even read this far.

Earl is a rare bird indeed. Some folks who just don’t understand have said he was a boob. But he is really some sort of boobie. NO! Not that kind of boobie! A gannet, dammit Janet!

( Wasn’t that a line from the Rocky Horror Pcture Show?)

Funny.

Who’s to say what is harmless?

Sounds better when he has his duck head on.

Spent a week in Hawaii, birds all over, even in the cities. No feral or “outdoor” cats, no dogs off leash seems to help.

Does Earl change the costume each time he does a new bird call…… I certainly hope so!

“Daddy said he was a dumb cluck…”

I think that the Bluebird of Happiness flew up Earl’s nose but still left him a few plumes light of feathering his nest.

LRoS

I had a not so good day yesterday (see Citizen Dog), among other things i didn’t get someplace where i could get a MO. I’m going to try again today.

We all know Earl is three feathers short of a full tail…..

“Nadine…”

“No.”

“I want to get together with three of the guys…”

“No.”

“Just a small caroling group, for Christmas…”

“No.”

“We’ll call ourselves the Four Calling B” “NO.”