Beware the Cobra Chickens on Campus

"Oh, the ducks are back..."

It was Wednesday, my first day out of that middle school art class, and I had caught a BEST class (which is an acronym, but I don't know what it stands for). Basically, it's a small, self-contained class for students who have issues. Special ed, but for emotional rather than developmental problems. 

The instructional assistant's remark got me to turn around and see the "ducks". Only these were not ducks. No, these were cobra chickens... 

This is a t-shirt. (And I found another, too.)

...otherwise known as Canadian geese. 

A couple weeks back, while driving to campus, I had noticed a flock of these beasts on the practice soccer field. I have no idea when they showed up and decided to make the school their home, but apparently it now is. Sigh. 

The geese were eating grass. There were at least a dozen of them, all full grown. We kind of watched them in between the work the kiddos were to do. (They were doing a review of The Crucible which they were to have a test on, and then they were learning about herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.) 

I did explain to the IA that they were geese not ducks, but she insisted on continuing to call them ducks. Oh well. I'm now calling them cobra chickens anyway, so... 

It used to be that we'd have seagulls all over the place. At the end of lunch, you'd always have to be careful to not get pooped on as the seagulls took off. (Kiddos leave trash with food. The seagulls knew where to get fed.) But, as of late, we don't have as many seagulls (although I'm not out in the lunch area at lunchtime, so I might just not see them). After the Covid shutdowns, the seagulls kind of drifted off. 

But now, Canadian geese. Yikes. 

At one point, one of the maintenance guys came driving through on his cart, and then security came by on her golf cart, and they ended up chasing the cobra chickens. I enjoyed that display way too much. 

Bad Neighbors

There's this family that lives in my complex. They arrived in the spring. And they are the very worst neighbors.

They are obnoxious. They roam the sidewalks as if they own the place. They make a mess. And if I want to pass by them, they give me ugly stares and hiss at me. Yup, the father likes to hiss.

Yes, I'm shaming them on the internet. Here's what they look like:

I've never meant them any harm. But if I come close...

They gather around, ready for a fight. See the kiddo just chillin' on the sidewalk. Just sitting there. My complex houses lots of people, and they like to walk their dogs. But these neighbors object to that sort of activity.

It's so bad, if we see them in our path, we turn around and go around the long way. It's easier than a confrontation. There's no telling how violent they might get.

Yet, somehow the ducks, turtles, and lizards seem to have figured out how to live amongst them. I wonder if they give them as wide a berth as we do.

I hope they leave soon. It'd be nice to take a stroll outside without worrying about running in to them.